Unpaid Leave Extended to Parents of children under 16

Millions more parents will get the right to take time off work in family emergencies under a Government deal with the trade unions this week. Unpaid leave will be extended to all those with families under 16 in case they need to look after a sick child or want to give them emotional support during exam times. At the moment unpaid leave is only available until the youngest child is six, this extension will benefit an extra 4.5 million parents.

The legislation will mean that parents with a year's continuous service will be entitled to 13 weeks of unpaid parental leave per child, no more than 4 weeks can be taken in a year and workers must give 21 days notice if they want to support children through exams.

Gordon Brown has already spoken in favour of extending the right to request flexible working to parents until children reach 16 because he believes chaining staff to their desks for the traditional 9am to 5pm working day is helping to breed unruly youngsters. But Neil Carberry, the CBI's Head of Employment Policy, said giving staff time off, even unpaid, could prove disastrous for small firms.

"Businesses were already having to plan ahead for the extension of maternity leave to 12 months and having to deal with requests for flexible working for those with children aged five or under" he said. Adding, "In the current economic climate, now is not the time to burden small businesses with another employment regulation"

Employers can decline the requests, but they have to give one of eight valid business reasons for doing so and 95 per cent are granted. The measures will be considered for inclusion in Labour's manifesto if they are passed at the annual party conference.

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