- Conference
- 2012 National LGBT Conference
- Date
- 1 January 2012
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes the advances in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality over recent years that have given LGBT people more options and choice of becoming a parent, whether it be as a single LGBT person or as a same sex couple.
However there are still many LGBT people who are already parents or who are considering becoming a parent, who are not always aware of their parenting rights inside and outside of work and may face discrimination due to lack of knowledge of the law.
Conference is concerned about the discrepancies that exist within some employers who chose to pay birth mothers occupational maternity pay whilst on maternity leave, second parents in some circumstances are entitled to a week on full pay and then a further week on statutory pay, any additional leave for the other parent is then unpaid unless they take additional paternity leave.
Conference notes this is not always the case for adoptive parents, who in many circumstances can claim only the statutory entitlement for all of their adoption leave period. These discrepancies can cause significant financial detriment to many adoptive parents at a time when the household outgoings will significantly increase; this could prevent many people from adopting at all. This is a terrible situation for many children who have already been through terrible circumstances.
Another impact of the discrepancies is that when adoptive parents are on unpaid leave their pension contributions are affected which further disadvantages adoptive parents. How can this be equal?
Conference believes that some Social Services lay down a requirement that if you adopt younger children, 1 parent must be at home for a minimum of 9 months whilst the child settles in and a bonding process takes place. Although statutory pay and leave for maternity, paternity and adoption do not discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation or gender/gender identity of the parents, for many same sex couples the discrepancy in pay entitlements is disproportionate, as they rely on adoption more than couples of the opposite sex to be parents, especially male couples, a fact that this conference feels needs to be addressed.
Conference further notes that there is currently no statutory provision for leave for the receiving parent or parents in a surrogacy arrangement. Conference welcomes UNISON’s campaign for leave equivalent to maternity and paternity leave.
Conference calls upon the National lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Committee to:
1. Work with all service group executives and sector committees to identify where these discrepancies occur and identify best practice where no discrepancy exists;
2. Prepare advice for LGBT members based on the information gathered for branches on how best this anomaly can be addressed with the employer and guidance for LGBT members on their employment rights as LGBT parents during the process of becoming a parent;
3. Liaise with any partner agencies to raise awareness; working and campaigning in partnership to address the unequal balance between workers, within the public and private sector;
4. Highlight, promote and support relevant LGBT parenting organisations.