Government Review of Parental Leave and Pay: What Employers Need to Know
4th of August 2025
In July 2025, the Government launched a comprehensive 18-month review into the UK's parental leave and pay framework, seeking evidence and insight into how the system can be reformed to better serve working families, the economy, and society.
This wide-ranging review encompasses all types of family-related leave, including:
- Maternity
Leave
- Paternity
Leave
- Shared
Parental Leave
- Adoption
Leave
- Neonatal
Care Leave
Objectives of the Review
The Government has outlined several key objectives for the review, focusing on outcomes for families, the workforce, and society:
1. Maternal Health: support the physical and mental health, recovery and wellbeing of women during pregnancy and post-partum by giving them sufficient time away from work with an appropriate level of pay
2. Economic Growth Through Labour Market Participation: support economic growth by enabling more parents to stay in work and advance in their careers after starting a family, particularly to improve both women's labour market outcomes and the gender pay gap, reduce the 'motherhood penalty', and harness benefits for employers
3. Best Start in Life: ensure sufficient resources and time away from work to support new and expectant parents' wellbeing and facilitate the best start in life for babies and young children, supporting health and development outcomes
4. Childcare: support parents to make balanced childcare choices that work for their family situation, including enabling co-parenting, and provide flexibility to reflect the realities of modern work and childcare needs.
Core Considerations in the Review
The Government will assess proposals and evidence using the following three key lenses:
- Fairness and Equality: building a fair system, between parents within a family, different types of parents (such as birth, single, adopters, parental order, kinship), and different employment statuses (such as employee, worker, self-employed)What This Means for Employers
Whilst the review is in its early stages and no changes have yet been made to existing laws, it is vital that businesses:
- Stay compliant with current statutory and pay regulations
- Regularly review and update internal HR policies to reflect any guidance
- Prepare for potential reforms that could affect leave and eligibility, pay entitlements, and flexible working rights
- Consider the cultural and reputational benefits of proactively supporting family-friendly workplace practices
How Can We Help at Schofield & Associates?
Our Legal and HR services can support both employers and businesses in navigating theses forthcoming changes, as well as, the current legislation governing parental leave and pay, by:
- Assisting with the implementation of inclusive policies that reflect evolving family structures and employment statuses- Updating your family leave policies to ensure legal compliance and best practice
- Advising on employee cases involving family leave, pay disputes, or flexible working requests
- Providing training for managers to handle parental leave and return-to-work situations with empathy and legality
- Monitoring legislative changes and advising you on how to adapt ahead of time
By staying up to date with current legislation and having effective and legally compliant policies in place, your business will stay ahead and reduce of successful tribunal claims.
If you're looking for advice, then we're here to help.
Contact us at:
Eileen Schofield for Employment Law advice on eileen.schofield@schofieldandassociates.co.uk - 01564 334614
Derri Moran for HR advice on derri.moran@schofieldhr.co.uk - 07508 741505
To visit our main website pages, follow:
https://www.schofieldandassociates.co.uk/
https://www.schofieldandassociates.co.uk/hr