The new maternity rules which came into force last month, could cause small business a lot of headaches. The changes include the length of maternity leave and increase in statutory maternity pay, mothers are now able to transfer some of their rights to the father, whose right to take paternity leave has increased to 13 weeks, which will be unpaid.
A study by recruitment consultancy Hudson, revealed that only 6 per cent of companies believed that their current policy is in line with the new legislation. Small business owners are concerned that they do not have the backup of a Human Resources department to assist them with implanting the new legislation. The study also showed that although most of the senior managers surveyed, agreed with the new rights for maternity and paternity leave, they felt that the extra workload would fall to colleagues who had not got children.
Our view
We suggest not implementing the changes without seeking help first. Help and guidance is available from the Federation of Small Business if they are members, or from the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service ACAS.