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Call for Evidence

Equality at work: paternity and shared parental leave

The Committee invites written submissions via the inquiry website addressing one or more of the following terms of reference by Friday 7 February 2025:

 

  • To what extent has the statutory shared parental leave scheme given parents (including different sex and same sex parents, adoptive parents, and parents through surrogacy) choice and flexibility in how they share parenting responsibilities in the first year?
  • What have been the longer-term equality impacts of the scheme, for example on equal sharing of responsibilities for children as they grow up, and wider domestic responsibilities?
  • What have been the labour market impacts of the scheme, particularly for women?
  • Why has take up of statutory shared parental leave been low and what could be done to increase take up?
  • How can inequalities in take up of shared parental leave, including by ethnicity, income, qualification level and occupational status, be addressed?
  • Are there potentially more effective alternatives to the current "maternal transfer" model of shared parental leave?
  • Which countries have most effectively incentivised equal parenting and wider gender equality through their approaches to parental leave? What would be the costs and benefits of replicating these approaches in the UK?

 

 

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