Willott shares government priorities on employment law at conference
Minister for employment relations Jenny Willott said she “completely understood that new shared parental leave rules were complicated” as she pledged that the government would publish “easy to understand” guidance for employers and employees.
Speaking at the Employment Law Review conference, organised by Westminster Employment Forum, Willott said: “Shared parental leave is about changing societal attitudes in the long-term. I think in the short-term the take up won’t be great but the number of men who take paternity leave is growing all the time.
“At the moment mothers can take up to a year, while fathers can take two week off. That sends a message about what society thinks about where the responsibility lies for childcare. But shared parental leave sends a really important message about what society sees as the role of both parents.
“We don’t want people to be put off taking up equal opportunities. So we will be looking at guidance for employers and employees to make sure it explains the complexity in an easy to understand way.”
In addition to the hot topic of shared parental leave, Willott answered questions from the audience on the introduction of tribunal fees last July and the impact they are having on access to justice.
Early figures from the Ministry of Justice show that the number of employment tribunal claims has dropped 79 per cent from a year earlier.
However, the minister said: “It’s too early to know what the impact of fees will be and what the long-term trends will be. But we are looking at things like the remissions system (funding available to claimants who can’t afford to pay) to make sure we get it right.”
Willotts added: “This is a new area and it’s really important that we review both the way it’s working and the level of fees. And the number of cases where remission is granted as well.”
She said that other factors such as the introduction of early conciliation needed to be taken into account before any further changes to tribunals fees can be considered, and there was still work to do to debunk “myths” that are building up about the remission grants and access being denied to those who cannot afford the fees.
“We need to monitor [the fees regime] to be able to make a judgement about whether we need to tweak the system and how we need to tweak it.”
She said she would speak to colleagues at the Ministry of Justice about publishing data on remission grants.
Willott, who is covering Jo Swinson’s ministerial responsibilities while she is on maternity leave, made her comments ahead of employment law changes coming in on 6 April. These changes will mean tribunals on or after this date will be able to order an employer to pay a financial penalty if they are found to have breached employment rights in an ‘aggravated way’. The process of early conciliation, administered by Acas and intended to resolve workplace dispute before they reach tribunal, will also be introduced from the same date.