The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has issued a warning regarding the UK government’s recent announcement about the changes in the Work and Families Bill. The Group has said that the changes can mean a lot of problems for the country’s small business owners.
The proposal involves the transfer a part of the maternity leave from the mother to the father. This will mean that two employers will now have to make arrangements to cover this temporary work leave. The FSB has acknowledged though that the father can only be considered eligible for the leave after the mother has returned to work.
The FSB has said that it welcomes the proposals for what is called as “keep in touch” days and giving the employer a two-month notice before they return to work, instead of the current rule of a 28 days notice.
According to the FSB, about 97% of businesses in the UK have less than 20 people in their service. These small business owners are faced with the difficulty of putting in place arrangements to hire other appropriately qualified staff that can take the place of employees who have children.
The FSB said that it welcomes these family friendly measures but it must also point out that they are not business friendly. In particular, because of its relatively swift implementation, it could leave small employers with
Company formation and business solutions experts said the swift implementation of these proposals may not give small employers enough time to cope with these changes.