Review suggests parental leave for grandparents

Grandparents should be allowed parental leave to make entitlement fairer for single parents in Jersey, a scrutiny review is suggesting.

The idea is among recommendations in a report examining family friendly legislation, which highlights inequalities between lone mums and dads compared to couples.

The Health and Social Security Scrutiny Sub-Panel has concluded the parental leave system should be made airer for single-parent households.

Under current laws, all parents are entitled to 52 weeks parental leave.  Six of them should be paid by the employer at the person's normal wage rate.

The panel says this means single-parent families effectively have access to half the total leave available to couples - and the child loses out on the benefits of time spent with a family carer during their early development.

Suggestions to remedy this include more paid leave or extra benefits for single parents, or extending parental leave to grandparents, family members and carers.

It is estimated that average childcare costs come out at around £1,700 to £2,000 a month for under-twos.

Chair of the Scrutiny Sub-Panel, Deputy Louise Doublet, says the law should better reflect modern families;

"The evidence we have gathered during this review suggests that the impact is not always felt equally in practice.

"Single-parent families are an important part of modern family life, yet the current framework does not always reflect their circumstances fairly, nor is it equitable for children from these families.

More than 430 people took part in a survey  as part of the review, and Deputy Doublet says it is clear from the testimony they heard that many cannot afford to take off all the time off work that they are legally allowed to after having a baby:

"We also heard clearly that many different groups of islanders, including those on lower and middle incomes, shift workers, people on zero-hour contracts and the self-employed, cannot afford to take all of their parental leave.

"This means many children are not benefiting from being cared for by their parents in their earliest months, which can impact their healthy development."

Among recommendations and policy options the panel is suggesting for making Jersey more family friendly, it is urging the Social Security Minister to introduce 12-weeks paid maternity leave in the next budget as previously recommended by the Employment Forum.