Flexible working rights put back on agenda
Parents with children under the age of 16 will now be able to ask for changes to their working day, under a Bill for flexible working proposed in the Queen's Speech last week.
Outlining plans for the new parliamentary session, the Queen said, 'My Government will bring forward a Bill to reform education, training and apprenticeships, to promote excellence in all schools, to improve local services for children and parents and to provide a right for those in work to request time for training.'
Plans for flexible working had been thought to be put on hold amid concerns over the economy (News 23 October). But the Bill presses on with a proposal give around 25 million workers the right to ask for time off from April, to achieve a better balance between work and family life or take up training.
Mary MacLeod, chief executive of the Family and Parenting Institute, said, 'Parents repeatedly tell us that being able to work flexibly would really help them juggle raising a family and earning a living. We are pleased that the Government has stuck to its plans and has really listened to the needs of parents in this country'.
A change in welfare proposals was also set out in the Queen's speech, under which both parents will have to jointly register the birth of their child unless it is 'impracticable, impossible or unreasonable' to do so. This will give unmarried fathers both rights and obligations of parental responsibility.
Duncan Fisher, chief executive of the Fatherhood Institute, said, 'The Institute is extremely positive about this. This is a significant change to how fatherhood is viewed. Most fathers don't sign because they don't know they have to, but by making it a statutory requirement, services must ask the mother about the birth registration.'
The speech also included plans to enshrine in law the Government's commitment to ending child poverty by 2020.
