More maternity leave on the way

WORKING mothers are to get a major boost from Government proposals to raise maternity pay for new mothers to £1,400. The move is part of a package of measures to be announced by the Department for Trade and Industry to help mothers return to work after they give birth. Labour wants to extend paid maternity leave to a full year.

The measures are seen as a canny pre-General Election move by the Government. Prime Minister Tony Blair today highlighted Government plans to put the family centre stage of Labour's pre-election campaigning effort.

Blair focused on proposals to extend maternity leave, and possibly to transfer some of the leave allowance to fathers. The Government is also looking at extending the right to request flexible working - currently available to the parents of pre-school children - to the parents of older children as well.

Appearing on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, Blair said: 'What we are trying to do with these proposals is just acknowledge that this is the future. And the future is one in which it is incredibly difficult for people to juggle work and family life and we need to be extending the ability of people to get help with that situation both in respect of childcare and in respect of extending maternity pay and maternity leave.'

Blairs aid me that the Government will 'definitely" extend maternity leave from six months to nine months, which would be worth around £1,400.' He said ministers were 'consulting' on the suggestion that fathers may be allowed to take over part of a mother's maternity leave allowance.

'We have got a basic principle, which is that we want some of the leave to be transferred. I think we will get there, but it is important that we work with businesses to find the best way of doing this and the least disruptive way possible.'

Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt said yesterday that the Government wanted to encourage women in the workplace by giving them access to flexible childcare arrangements. She added: 'The main announcement that we are making is the proposal for an extra £1,400 for every mother with a newborn baby so she can have an extra three months maternity pay. On top of that, we are saying she will have more choice, she will be able to give some of her maternity pay and leave, if she wants to, to the father, so that the family can share the care between them.'

Although new mothers already have the right to 12 months leave, many women do not take their full entitlement because not all of it is paid. Labour say that the extra will be paid for by taxpayers rather than employers.

But business leaders attacked the measure as yet another measure that would 'chip away' at corporate profitability and damage the ability of small businesses to make a profit at all. Sir Digby Jones, director-general of the CBI, complained that many companies in Middle Britain were stuck in 'profitless prosperity'.

And David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, warned that the changes would increase the pressures on business. He criticised the measures as yet another burden on entrepreneurs trying to expand their companies.

'The majority of British businesses are small firms that could be crippled by these moves to allow more time off. While the majority of any salary costs may be covered by the Government's statutory pay, recruitment costs, advertising costs, retraining costs and the strain on the company will not be. Do we want a competitive economy or are we content to see employers struggle as their hands are tied behind their backs,' he asked, adding:

'A key reason for the success of our economy over the last ten years has been flexibility, particularly in terms of the labour market. We need it to remain flexible, our firms cannot compete without it.'