NU London Parental Policy - An Informal Conversation by Riyukta Raghunath

riyuktaraghunath — 2024-05-16 14:05:23 UTC

just wanted to point out that we might have the possibility to improve our policies in terms of partner leave adoption/surrogacy parental leaves, or Fertility leave.

At NUL still we do not have a framework well defined and moreover if we consider what other university are able to offer we are behind.

Here some examples of university that provide in some extent all the policies for the leave I described above.

University of Exeter: my previous institution:

partner leave= 6 weeks

adoption/surrogacy parental leaves,= several weeks

Fertility leave =5 days

Types of leave | Parents and Carers | University of Exeter

exeter.ac.uk

Univerisy of Edinburgh with all the links

Family leave policies

ed.ac.uk

In London:

UCL there are different pages:

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/human-resources/adoption-leave-and-pay-policy#:~:text=Adopters%20are%20eligible%20for%20Adoption%20Leave%20only%20once%20per%20placement.&text=AL%20can%20start%20from%20the,28%20days%20of%20this%20date.

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/human-resources/paternitypartners-leave-and-pay-policy

King's colleges

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policyhub/paternity-partner-leave-scheme

I am aware that all the examples here are from bigger universities and small universities provide only the 2 weeks or 15 days policy or they provide something more depending on the different needs.

However I think there is some room to define some policies that help us all.

2024-05-16 14:33:22 UTC

It is critically important that NU London provides reasonable leave for parents, particularly mothers. Men are not subjected to anything close to what women are in terms of societal expectations of parenting. There's a reason why it's intensive mothering (see Hays 1996), not intensive fathering.

Mothers are subjected to contradictory ideas that the best worker is fully committed, that society values work more than the home, and that the best mother is fully committed to her children (Pugh, 2005).

2024-05-16 14:36:30 UTC

What does NU London offer in terms of rates of pay for two weeks' Paternity leave men can take after a birth? If it's the statutory weekly rate of £184.03, that needs to change immediately.

Paternity leave has shockingly low take-up rates, because the pay is so poor many men simply can't afford it.

2024-05-16 14:38:44 UTC

The single most effective thing that can be done to reduce gendered inequalities in parenting is to improve parental leave policies.

2024-05-17 13:04:54 UTC

Appreciating this may apply to a relatively small proportion of the workforce, it seems policies rarely cater for working parents with children who have severe/profound additional care needs. While unpaid emergency or parental leave often exists, parents of such children may find a disproportionate need to take such time - particularly where there is often a lack of alternative care that can be quickly and easily arranged that can manage the child's physical and/or cognitive needs. Unpaid leave cannot always be afforded, meaning annual leave is often used for emergency childcare, medical appointments and so on, and that those working parents - already managing a lot - have fewer days for intended restful/enjoyable paid for leave.

I have seen policies elsewhere that cater for carer/dependents leave where paid time is given for circumstances of "short-term" critical illnesses and treatment, but there seems to generally be less provision for longer-term but still significantly life impacting circumstances - arguably equally difficult to manage both physically and mentally.

Such paid leave of course still needs to be granted on basis of need/judged on merit and should not be unlimited, but I wonder there could be consideration of increased provision to help cover appointments and emergency leave. Entitlement could potentially be evidenced via government measures such as eligibility for DWP disability living allowance, for example.

2024-05-20 16:34:10 UTC

Although not directly discussing the maternity policy, other institutions in comparison are much more generous than 6 weeks full pay - 6 months at least, is this something that would be reconsidered in the near future?

2024-05-20 16:44:38 UTC

Just a discussion point, my husband's company is an advocate for men's mental health and wellbeing and offers shared parental leave of 6 months (full pay), 4 weeks paternity leave (full pay) with recognition of shared miscarriages/loss at any stage of pregnancy with their partner for leave.

Also a crucial factor missing from NU London's policies that should be changed to recognise miscarriage and loss regardless of trimesters, as a loss can happen at any point and is not recognised as compassionate leave.

This needs to change especially since the introduction of baby loss certification from the government earlier this year.

UPDATE outdated policies to fit with today's times and other charities like Tommys and for the benefit of both parents.

rebeccaellennewby — 2024-05-21 16:26:55 UTC

Does the NU London maternity policy match the wider Northeastern maternity policy? If not, why not?

nwv — 2024-05-22 09:26:59 UTC

I'd like there to be greater recognition of how 'maternity' isn't just a defined period of leave, but a bumpy / turbulent process that may require some ongoing accommodation and flexibility. I like the word 'matrescence' (see Lucy Jones, 2024, for example) as a counterpart of, say, adolescence or senescence to account for the way that motherhood (and parenthood) is a process rather than an event. In my experience, the hardest part of my 'matrescence' (so far!) was when I put my child into nursery and (I) immediately started catching every bug going, with about 6 bouts of bronchitis in one year. My child was still breastfeeding and needed extra comfort at night (because they were ill) and my nights were disturbed both by this and my own coughing, affecting my own ability to recover. This is the kind of thing that is not covered by a too-narrow focus on either maternity leave or straightforward sickness policies.

2024-05-23 14:31:32 UTC

Parental leave at my previous institution was 16 weeks full pay. I think this should be the minimum.

Another thing I would like to see is compassionate leave that supports parents. I have 2 young children in nursery and have to take unpaid leave whenever they are sick. I like the idea of wellbeing days (mentioned in another post) which could be used in this situation.