Labour Press
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Labour to stage family-friendly workplace summit with major employers
Labour is to stage a family-friendly workplace summit with leading employers to look at how businesses can be better supported to help mums and dads struggling to balance work and family life.The summit, on Tuesday 25 February, will include business organisations, large and small employers, trade unions and family organisations.The latest Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) report shows that the UK is falling behind top OECD countries on maternal employment rates - and indicates that getting mothers back to work could give the economy a potential £1.5 billion a year boost.[i]Meanwhile, government figures show fathers are twice as likely to have flexible working requests turned down[ii] and younger dads (26-35) are the most concerned about their work life balance[iii].Families are facing a childcare crunch of this Tory-led Government’s making. Nursery prices have risen five times faster than wages, with childcare costs up 30 per cent since 2010. Childcare places have fallen, while Ministers have cut support to help families pay for childcare.Helping support family-friendly business practices and better childcare provision are key planks of Labour’s plan to tackle the cost-of-living crisis facing families. Family-friendly practices are good for firms and the economy as well as for family life.The summit tomorrow afternoon in central London will be chaired by Chuka Umunna MP, Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary, with Lucy Powell MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Childcare and Children, and Ian Murray MP, Labour’s Shadow Business Minister. It will help inform Labour’s policy review process.The gathering will focus on how government could better support firms, whether this is helping small business with requirements around maternity and paternity leave, as well as how government can ensure that there is enough affordable, high-quality childcare for working parents.Helping businesses enable more parents to work flexibly is another key policy which could make a real difference for mums and dads battling to manage work and home commitments.The summit will hear from companies who have done well supporting family-friendly working practices and how these can benefit both employers and employees. Ford will show how their on-site nursery at their engineering centre and very strong ‘family-friendly’ policies and provisions help their employees balance work and family needs. Ford believes these provisions are good for business by helping to retain highly valued employees who reflect key constituents of their customer base.Chuka Umunna MP, Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary, said:“As well as boosting free and affordable childcare, we need to do all we can to support businesses in giving parents the flexibility they need. This is crucial in helping parents who want to enter the labour market, freelance or start their own business which will boost our economy and help us grow our way out of the cost of living crisis.“That’s what Labour’s Family Friendly Summit is all about – working with employers on how we the next Labour government can make a positive difference for businesses and parents alike.”Lucy Powell MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Childcare and Children, added:“The government could do more to help business embed family-friendly practices. We’re looking forward to hearing employers who support working parents and, in doing so, get a gain for their business too.“We want to work in partnership with employers to help support them improve family-friendly practices that benefit business and families. Parents finding it hard to make ends meet, as well as balancing caring and work responsibilities, need a champion. Labour will work to tackle the childcare crunch and give families more choice.”philwidnes liked this
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