Freelance workers and the self-employed may be allow equal access to shared parental leave and pay.
A special Bill has been put before Parliament by Batley and Spen MP Tracy Brabin.
The bill called a 10 minute rule bill has cross-party support and is backed by industry, unions, campaign groups and celebrities including Chris Martin from Coldplay, would mean that freelancers and the self-employed are no longer unfairly excluded from shared parental leave legislation.
Shared parental leave was introduced in 2015 and it allows parents to share leave and maternity pay following the birth of their child. But freelancers and the self-employed, who number 4.7m in Britain, are frozen out of the scheme.
The new bill aims to redress this inequality.
It now goes for a second reading where MPs will have chance to debate the principles. This is scheduled to place on May 11 but it is possible for a bill to have a second reading with no debate, provided MPs agree to its progress.
Under the bill, freelancers and the self-employed would gain access to shared parental leave and pay without any extra cost to the taxpayer.
This would mean that the almost 14% of people who are self-employed in Yorkshire and Humberside would have the same rights as those in more conventional employment.
Batley and Spen MP Tracy Brabin said in a 10 minute speech in Parliament which was well received on both sides of the house: “My bill would allow freelance partners to decide who receives the allowance so a mum can take a block when she’s ready, or wants to re-enter the workplace, while the family still receives the regular income from the Maternity Allowance.
“A simple of way of replicating shared parental leave for freelancers at no extra cost to the taxpayer.
“A move which I think will send a strong message to the country that not only do we understand the changing face of work, but we believe that men and women are valued equally in the home and the work place.
She went on to say: “A change to our cultural norms doesn’t happen overnight but I believe the self-employed can blaze a trail in leading the way, helping us to get to a place where it’s assumed that partners can, and indeed, should shoulder a significant amount of the childcare.”
Since the Government introduced Shared Parental Leave, just 2% of eligible families have taken it up.
But 70% of freelancers, or those with freelance partners, could take advantage of the scheme, according to research by the Parental Pay Equality campaign group, if it was available to them.
Under Ms Brabin’s bill, the £140.98 per week statutory maternity pay would continue for the full 39 weeks if the mum decides to return to work while her partner stays at home. This is not currently the case.
Ms Brabin, who raised two children while she and her husband were both freelancers, said: “This bill would help put an end to the expectation that childcare lies with mum and would bring freedom of choice into the family.
“And at the same time it would give self-employed dads the chance to bond and enjoy those all-important early months of their baby’s life.
“Mums often feel trapped into staying on leave to retain their maternity allowance and this can have long-lasting ramifications for their career and pay, widening the gender pay gap.
“This is why I am calling on the Government to listen up and to give the self-employed the same rights as everyone else.”
