Of the thousands of professional women currently on a career break, around 427,000 want to return to work at some point in the future. However, research shows that, upon returning to work, three in five women could end up in lower-skilled jobs and 29,000 women returners would prefer to work more hours but are unable to do so due to the lack of flexible working opportunities (click here for link to PWC's report on women returners). At the end of January the Women and Work All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) launched its first annual report on this very topic. The report analyses the barriers that a career break of more than six months can present to women returners and makes recommendations, both to employers and to the government, on how they can better support these women. The report also highlights the economic advantages of increasing the employment numbers of women with dependent children (many of whom take maternity leave and additional time off to care for their children). It states that an increase of five per cent could generate around £750 million in increased tax revenue and decreased benefit spending.

  1. The recommendations made by the APPG include:
    Equalising Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) and Statutory Shared Parental Leave Pay so that couples are not penalised financially for taking Shared Parental Leave (SPL), which would therefore, hopefully, encourage take up of SPL.
  2. Bringing Maternity Allowance in line with SMP to ensure that self-employed women are not disadvantaged.
  3. That workforces with more than 250 employees should:
    1. have a carers policy detailing organisational support available for those with caring responsibilities;
    2. consider having a return to work policy; and
    3. consider having a returner programme to offer training, guidance and advice to returners.
  4. That employers should promote best practice through a flexible working Kitemark scheme with official accreditation and assessment.
  5. The introduction of penalties for employers who limit flexible working unnecessarily.
  6. That secondary schools and sixth forms should ensure information about self-employment and entrepreneurships is on the curriculum.

At this stage the recommendations are just that – recommendations – and it is unclear whether the government or employers will act on any of them. However, clearly there is an increasing and ongoing dialogue regarding recognising the value of women in the workforce and recognising that career breaks are valuable. As Flick Drummond MP said at the APPG launch, "if we want to be a happier and more successful country, we must appreciate that some people take time out of the workplace for either caring responsibilities or to pursue other interests".

The full APPG report can be found here.

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