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Euro plan to up maternity leave ‘could cost £2bn’
Draft legislation to give mothers more paid leave goes down badly in UK boardrooms
British businesses and the government have reacted badly to a Brussels proposal to increase paid maternity leave across Europe. They say companies already struggling because of the recent recession could end up bearing the extra cost and that it will inevitably discourage firms from hiring women of child-bearing age.
The plan, included in draft legislation passed by the women's rights committee of the European Parliament, is to extend maternity leave to 20 weeks on full pay.
Britain currently has a deal which allows new mothers in full-time jobs as much as a year off - the first six weeks are at 90 per cent pay with the following 33 weeks on 'statutory maternity pay' of £123 a week. The rest is unpaid.
Lord Young, Britain's Employment Relations Minister, said: "We already have a generous system which is better than many European Union countries and works well, balancing the needs of businesses and workers.
"A substantial increase in maternity leave paid at full or near-full pay risks undermining this delicate balance at a time when economies across the EU can least afford it."
Under Britain's current system, firms are reimbursed by the government for the bulk of the statutory maternity pay. The fear is that if paid leave is increased under European law, the government will have to ask companies to share more of the burden and, given the current economic climate, that is bound to lead to an increased bias against hiring women.
Both the British Chambers of Commerce and the Institute of Directors have criticised the European move. A spokesman for the latter said it was "a massive worry" to them. "We estimate that the UK will be hit with a bill of £1.5 billion to £2 billion a year - a very substantial cost.
"Given the state of the public finances there has to be a strong risk that employers would end up being forced to pay."
The risk of companies being discouraged from hiring women of child-bearing age was highlighted by the self-made millionaire and star of The Apprentice, Sir Alan Sugar, when he said in 2008: "Everything has gone too far. We have maternity laws where people are entitled to too much.
"If someone comes into an interview and you think to yourself 'There is a possibility that this woman might have a child and therefore take time off' it is a bit of a psychological negative thought." ·
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....so companies stop employing women and soon there'll be a short fall of labour which will mean....shrugs shoulders in the 'what are we to do' political way....open door immigration policy!!!!
What British businesses think or feel is pretty irrelevant really. They will be told what to do and they will do it, by law. The procedure is 1) the unelected European Commission create a directive, 2) the members of the European Parliament rubber-stamp it into EU law with very little debate, if any 3) the members of the British Houses of Parliament rubber-stamp it into British law with little if any debate - and that is it. If it concerns things like bin emptying the Local Authorities enforce it, otherwise it is the taxman or the police. What can you do about it? Nothing. Except leave the EU...