Children and Families Bill is published

The Government has published the Children and Families Bill 2013. The Bill delivers the legislative commitments made by the Government in their response to the Modern Workplaces Consultation undertaken in 2011.

The Bill sets out a number of proposals, including:

• A system of shared parental leave and pay which will allow working parents to share up to 50 weeks leave in non-consecutive blocks of at least a week, unless their employer requires them to take it in a single period - something the Bill makes clear will be allowed.
• A right for fathers to take unpaid leave to attend two antenatal appointments.
• Adoptive parents to have the same rights to pay and leave as birth parents.
• The extension of the right to request flexible working to all employees.
• The removal of the current statutory procedure for considering flexible working requests. Employers will instead have a duty to consider all requests in a reasonable manner, supported by an Acas Code of Practice explaining what this means.

To read the Bill, click here.