The government is to introduce paid grandparental leave, Chancellor George Osborne (pictured) announced yesterday (4 October).
At the Conservative Party Conference 2015, Osborne highlighted the importance of offering working grandparents paid leave to help take care of their grandchildren.
In a tweet, he said: “Grandparents shouldn’t have to choose between helping with new grandchild and staying in work. So we’ll introduce grandparental leave.”
This announcement follows the implementation of shared parental leave earlier this year, which entitles working parents to share up to 52 weeks of leave, after the birth or adoption of a child.
The government’s announcement that it will extend the shared parental leave system to include grandparents is fantastic news. We already know that many parts of society have to date been unable to benefit from shared parental leave, including single mothers, those whose partner is financially unable to take shared parental leave and families where one parent is self-employed.
Research has found that the majority of new mothers are already reliant on grandparents for childcare upon their return to work, and this extension will reduce the need for older workers to leave the workforce permanently, thereby extending working lives.