The government has opened a consultation on its plans to give fathers additionasl rights to take paid additional paternity leave (APL) following the birth (or adoption) of a child for whom they have parental responsibility.

The proposed new right would allow fathers to take between 2 – 26 weeks leave during the second 6 months of the child’s life. APL will not be able to be taken until the mother has returned to work following maternity leave, but it does noyt have to begin as soon as she returns.

The right will apply not just to biological fathers but to anyone who is married to or is the partner of the child’s mother, provided that person has responsibility for the child’s upbringing. Employees will need to have at least 26 weeks contnuous service to avail themselves of the new right and must remain in employment until the start of the paternity leave period.

APL will be paid at the standard maternity leave rate (presently the lower of £123.06 per week or 90% of average earnings). However father will only be eligible for payment during the 39-week period when the mother is eligible to receive maternity pay or maternity allowance. APL can be taken outside this 39 week period but it will be unpaid.

A father wishing to take APL will, at least 8 weeks before taking leave, need to give his employer notice of intention to take APL, a signed declaration confirming that the absence is for the purposes of child-care and a signed declaration from the mother confirming the father’s information and giving her name, addresss, NI number and stating her intention to return to work.

The new rights are intended to apply to babies born after April 2011. The cost to employers of APL will largely be offset by the corresponding reduction in maternity leave costs. However the rights will be a further set of rules for employers to administer and apply in practice.

The Conservative Party at their annual conference in Manchester have been setting out their stall on how they would approach employment law and HR issues.

The Shadow Business Secretary Alan Duncan pledged to reform the Employment Tribunal System describing it as ‘grotty’. He promised that employees losing Employment Tribunal claims would be forced to pay their employer’s costs, which currently only occurs in a minority of cases.

Duncan also criticised the Agency Workers Directive which will give temporary workers in the UK equal rights to permanent staff after 12 weeks with an employer. The Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance said that the Directive would cost British businesses £40 billion over the next 10 years and put tens of thousands of jobs at risk so the Conservatives would campaign against its early enforcement. Gordon Brown told the TUC Conference last month that the directive could be implemented as early as Autumn 2010 and therefore possibly before any General Election.

The Shadow Business Secretary Kenneth Clarke told the Tory Party conference that he would deregulate businesses with policies that would ‘light the bonfire of red tape’. He promised a net 5% reduction in the regulatory burden on businesses and suggested a ‘one in, one out’ policy on Employment Law whereby legislation would only be passed once an old ruling had been removed.

Theresa May the Shadow Minister for Women also signalled that she would scrap Government plans for mandatory gender pay audits which are proposed as part of the Equality Bill. That Bill, which is still being debated in Parliament, includes a clause allowing the Government to require employers from 2013 to report on differences in pay between men and women in their organisations.

May stated that should the Conservatives form the next Government their proposal would involve mandatory reporting only for those employers found guilty of discrimination at an Employment Tribunal.