EU maternity pay proposal will hit small firms, says IoD

Dated: 20 October 2010

Commenting on the European Parliament vote today to extend maternity pay to a minimum of 20 weeks at 100 per cent of earnings, Alistair Tebbit, IoD spokesman, said: 

“The Government now needs to block this terrible proposal. The state can’t afford 20 weeks of maternity pay at 100 per cent of earnings. If this measure comes into force the Government may require employers to pick up the £2.5bn bill, or at least a big part of it.

“Some large businesses won’t mind the change because they are already gold-plating statutory maternity pay by making their own additional payments. But the effect on small firms, almost none of which can afford to supplement statutory maternity pay, would be very severe.

He added:

“It is not desirable for the EU to create a large tax, in effect, on employing women. Supporters of the proposal should ponder on the unintended consequences. Such a step is unlikely to improve the prospects of women in the workplace.”

ENDS

Contact Points

Edwin Morgan
Media Relations Manager
Institute of Directors, 116 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5ED
Tel: +44 (0)20 7451 3392
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Email: edwin.morgan@iod.com
Website: www.iod.com/policy

Notes to editors

  • The IoD (Institute of Directors) was founded in 1903 and obtained a Royal Charter in 1906. The IoD is a non-party political organisation with upwards of 45,000 members in the United Kingdom and overseas. Membership includes directors from right across the business spectrum – from media to manufacturing, e-business to the public and voluntary sectors. Members include CEOs of large corporations as well as entrepreneurial directors of start-up companies.
  • The IoD offers a wide range of business services which include business centre facilities (including ten UK regional centres [three in London, Reading, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester, Nottingham, Edinburgh and Belfast] and one each in Paris and Brussels), conferences, networking events, virtual offices and hotdesking, issues-led guides and literature, as well as free access to business information and advisory services and a comprehensive Information Centre. The IoD places great emphasis on director development and has established a certified qualification for directors – Chartered Director – as well as running specific board-level and director-level training and individual career mentoring programmes.
  • In addition, the IoD provides an effective voice to represent the interests of its members to government and key opinion-formers at the highest levels. These include ministers, constituency MPs, Select Committee members and senior civil servants. IoD policies and views are actively promoted to the national, regional and trade media.
  • For further information, visit our website: www.iod.com
  • You can also keep up to date with the latest views from the IoD on twitter.com/The_IoD and at blogs.iod.com