Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Working Group Survey – CCPS Summary

Overview of Survey Background Changes to duties during pregnancy– Reasons/Factors Changes to duties following Maternity Leave Guidance on Pregnancy and Maternity Issues Complaints Redundancy Flexible Working Requests Responsibility and Legislation Conclusion/Additional Comments From Respondents

Background – Respondent Organisations 52% of respondent organisations consisted of 250+ employees 100% consisted of 51% or more female workforce, with 44% consisting of 75% female workforce or greater 52% had Union recognition All were standalone organisations There was a wide coverage of organisation type Organisations did not always answer all questions/ provide detail (parts 4,5 & 6)

Background – Respondent Organisations (Cont.) Three highest concerns over Mat Leave: Woman pregnant or on Mat Leave being request to work changed hours on return to work (66.67%) Costs of Mat Pay not affordable (33.33%) Costs of providing Mat Leave cover not affordable (25%)

Background – Respondent Organisations (Cont.) An interesting correlation occurs in the graph above: A steady rise in numbers of women pregnant from 3-5 up to 11-15 A sudden drop to 0% for 16-20, with a jump back up to 26-50 women Then a steady decline in numbers from 26 to 101+ women in pregnancy

Background – Respondent Organisations (Cont.) Those organisations with the highest percentages of women on Mat Leave also tended to have union recognition, consist of 6+ operational sites, and are in Adult Care in the home with 250+ employees. 567 workforce returners from Mat Leave between all respondents; those respondents with highest returners were as above 59 staff not returning from Mat Leave between all respondents

Background – Respondent Organisations (Cont.) The chart shows the following top 3 difficulties facing the respondents: Levels of sickness absence for those returning from maternity leave – 2.38 Managing workloads for other members of the team – 2.28 Pregnancy among those on short or fixed term contracts/appointment – 2.08

Changes to duties during pregnancy– Reasons/Factors 91.67% of respondents adapted or altered duties for women during pregnancy in the past three years 95.65% were led to this through the results of H&S Risk Assessments 60.87% of respondents also received requests from staff members for the changes 4.35% stated under ‘Other’, that alterations were based on Occupational Health recommendations

Changes to duties following Maternity Leave 52 % altered duties for staff returning from Mat Leave 73.33% of these were due to staff requests, with only 40% being due to H&S Risk Assessments 92% did find that H&S Risk Assessments identified specific hazards or risks for pregnant women or new mothers (sector) 26.67% listed under ‘Other’ for reasons for changes as: OH recommendations Flexible working requests

Changes to duties following Maternity Leave (Cont.)

Changes to duties following Maternity Leave (Cont.) Generally seen as easy to facilitate: Ordinary Maternity Leave (1-26 weeks) Additional Maternity Leave (27-52 weeks) Maternity Pay (Weeks 1-39) Also generally seen as easy to facilitate, but with increasing difficulty and complexity: Paid time off to attend appointments associated with pregnancy An employee on Mat Leave having the right to return to exactly the same job within or at the end of Ordinary Mat Leave An employee on Mat Leave returning at the end of Additional Mat Leave Protection from being treated unfavourably because of pregnancy or being on Mat Leave (redundancy, refused training or promotion opportunities) (Sector) Enhanced protection from redundancy during Ordinary Mat Leave Biggest areas of issue: Accumulation of annual leave during Mat Leave Right to request Flexible Working

Guidance on Pregnancy and Maternity Issues 52% provide guidelines, training or other support for managers covering issues related to pregnant women, and Mat Leave 56% sought guidance on maternity, pregnancy and Mat Leave issues externally The quality of current guidance was not seen as clear cut, with an even split of 48:48% between Poor/Neutral:Good Indicates that more can be done to provide effective guidance, and assess current guidance Feedback on available information services used, based on listed responses: Legal advice/employment lawyer – 11 listings ACAS – 11 CIPD – 5 Government sources - 5

Guidance on Pregnancy and Maternity Issues (Cont.) Which one source have you used most often in the last three years (descending order) Law firms/solicitors – 6 HR consultancy service/outsourcing/advisor – 6 Internal sources (colleagues, company hand books, intranet) – 3 ACAS – 2 CIPD – 2 Government department publications, helplines or websites – 2 Internet search (e.g. Google) – 1 Newspapers, magazines - 1

Guidance on Pregnancy and Maternity Issues (Cont.) Topics of information sought: Flexible working – 5 Shared Parental leave – 4 Redundancy- 4 Risk assessments – 2 Long term sickness absence/capability and dismissal - 2

Complaints Only 3 respondents had complaints relating to pregnancy or maternity discrimination in last three years, with one staff member for each of the three respondents Outcomes of most recent complaint: Informal complaints usually around flexibility expectations Flexible request denied, appealed, upheld, employee then off sick, tribunal threatened, ultimately resigned No action, complaint unfounded

Redundancy Only 16% made redundancies amongst staff pregnant or on Mat Leave Total of 6/7 redundancies between the four respondents who provided a detailed answer to this question On informing staff who were pregnant or on Mat Leave: 80% did so at the same time as other redundancy announcements 40% after staff disclosed they were pregnant but before Mat Leave 20% prior to disclosing they were pregnant 20% while they were on Ordinary Mat Leave Number not enough information to work reliably from

Flexible Working Requests The majority of respondents had 1-10 flexible working requests Highest was 3-5 range at 24% but 7% at 21 plus 78.26% of all or most requests were granted It can be surmised that efforts to grant requests are genuine, but previous evidence within this survey suggests that flexible working requests can cause issues due to the nature of the sector and the following reasons: Burden on service and staff Moves duty focus to times outside of Service User (SU) ‘need times’ Rotas make it hard to accommodate requests for working set days The Impact on SUs Unrealistic and high expectations of returners Insufficient work available Clash with service agreements/operational reasons Recruiting issues KIT (Keeping In Touch) Days 80% have used KIT days in past three years 83.33% have maintained formal or informal contact with staff on Mat Leave other than KIT days

Responsibility and Legislation Who makes individual HR decisions in relation to pregnant women on Mat Leave or returning to work? Top 3: Individual Line Managers (76%) Senior Managers (40%) Central HR department/team (32%) Aspects of current legislation around pregnancy/Mat Leave not working: For the employer Shared parental leave Flexible working requests (resource heavy) Costs (enhanced Mat Pay/Leave, backfilling post) No support to pay above SMP/no additional funding Confusion around redundancy protection For the employee Limited SMP/nothing above those levels/pay entitlements above 6 weeks not enough Costly tribunal fees Stressful flexible working request process Time off for dependents, support after return to work

Responsibility and Legislation (Cont.) 84% are in favour of a fund to help 3rd Sector reclaim SMP 72% are in favour of an initiative to help 3rd Sector employers enhance practices in relation to maternity and pregnancy Note though that the practice appears pretty sound Good practice examples suggested by respondents: Risk Assessments Trial periods for flexible working requests KIT, including Mat Leave staff in training, info for vacancies, etc. Enhanced Mat Pay based on minimum attendance Inclusive approach with support, person centred

Conclusion/Additional comments from respondents Flexible working requires good practice, but remains an issue for our sector, and we are lagging behind… this is not an information, training or intent issue, but a resourcing issue …staff working at full capacity pressure, as this is leaving organisations very little room for manoeuvre Reduced cost/tax breaks for availability of flexible and good quality child care, rather than additional maternity information for the sector There needs to be changes or improvements to guidance on pregnancy and maternity issues for 3rd Sector organisations