UK plans for couples to share maternity leave
Published:Monday | January 17, 2011 | 1:20 PM
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has outlined plans to press ahead with changes to allow couples to share maternity leave.
The change, originally put forward by the last government, will allow a father to take up any remaining unpaid leave if his partner goes back to work early.
Clegg says the government would consult on a proper system of shared parental leave to be introduced in 2015.
He says the reforms to parental leave would help not only the rich, but also ordinary working families.
The government wants couples to be able to take leave in a number of chunks rather than a single block, or parents taking time off together rather than one after the other.