United Kingdom: government sets about reforming parental leave

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The Labour government, in office for just over a year, has pledged to drive economic growth and tackle workplace inequality. Among its priorities is a review of parental leave, with ministers promising to make the system "fairer and easier to use".
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On 1 July, the UK government launched a review of the entire parental leave system – from maternity and paternity leave to shared parental leave – which it considers to be out of date and “confusing”, with eight different schemes in existence and insufficient take-up rates. UK business secretary Jonathan Reynolds points out that the system has not been reformed for “decades”, even though working habits and family patterns have evolved in that time. He has given himself 18 months to examine the

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