• New Rights for New Fathers

    New Rights for New Fathers

    Imagine it, the excitement of a new born baby followed by long days and sleepless nights. For many new and expectant parents, especially the dads, concerns about work sometime prevent them enjoying the special early days of fatherhood. While they may be granted leave, it is often at statutory pay and this can prevent dad’s…

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  • The Elephant in the Room: Protected Characteristics – Parental Status

    The Elephant in the Room: Protected Characteristics – Parental Status

    Being a working parent is hard! For me, it was actually harder when my kids were at primary school, than when they were at nursery. At nursery, there was cover from 7am – 7pm if I needed it. At primary school there appeared to be a natural assumption that you could drop off at 8:50,…

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  • What is flexible working?

    What is flexible working?

    The term ‘flexible working’ means lots of different things depending on who you are speaking to. To some it is the ability to work part-time, to others the ability to work from home and to others the ability to work shifts or on a zero hours basis. The right to request flexible working has been…

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  • Family Friendly Policies

    A full set of policies around maternity, paternity and adoption leave and pay need to be developed so that employees feel valued and their skills are not lost from the business, but so that they business is able to function effectively with short and long term absences as a result of the prospective and actual…

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  • Father’s Day –Pay Some Attention to Dads!

    Father’s Day is just around the corner, for those of you who haven’t marked it in your diary in a giant red circle – it’s Sunday 17th June.  Make sure you spoil Dads and Carers – because I think they often get left out of any celebrations!  Notoriously, did you know that Father’s Day is…

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  • Mum vs. Dad

    We all know that mum is entitled to maternity leave and pay, and that (if we are truthful with ourselves) in the past potential employers have chosen male over female applicants so as to avoid having to cope with maternity rights. Now the game changes. New Dads are entitled to up to six months paternity leave…

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  • Do you employ men?

    Although we like to think it is a thing of the past, clients still tell me that they are scared to employ young females in case they get pregnant. They don’t want the upheaval or the costs associated with maternity leave such as finding and training temporary staff or loosing key skills and knowledge. However,…

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