Your right to time off if a relative needs to get care

WORKERS will be allowed to take a year’s sabbatical to care for sick relatives, Theresa May will announce today.

The Prime Minister will pledge ‘the greatest expansion of workers’ rights by any Tory government in history’ as she sets out a raft of new entitlements to woo Labour voters.

Employees with family members who fall sick – such as elderly parents – will be able to take up to 12 months’ unpaid leave to provide full-time care while their jobs are kept on hold.

Parents who suffer the tragedy of losing a child will get a statutory two weeks of bereavement leave, and employees will be allowed to request time off to go on training courses as part of a bid to boost skills and productivity. There will also be a major crackdown on corporate governance, with listed companies forced to have worker representation on their boards.

New rules will stop ‘irresponsible bosses’ making millions while company pension schemes go bankrupt. Ministers also want to close loopholes that allow so-called ‘gig economy’ firms to exploit workers by claiming they are self-employed.

Mrs May’s pitch, which aims to appeal to traditional Labour supporters, comes only days after she accused Jeremy Corbyn of ‘deserting the working class’.

The Prime Minister hopes to pick up seats deep into Labour’s northern heartlands that have not been won by the Tories for decades.

In a bid to ease the concerns of those worried about Brexit, Mrs May will guarantee that all workers’ rights currently offered under EU law will be maintained.

And she will go further, pledging to put building on these entitlements at the centre of the Tory manifesto that will be unveiled later this week.

During a visit to a training centre this morning, the Prime Minister will say: ‘I said I would use Brexit to extend the protections and rights that workers enjoy, and our manifesto will deliver exactly that. Our plans, backed up with strong and stable leadership, will be the greatest expansion in workers’ rights by any Conservative government in history.’

She will add: ‘By working with business, reducing taxes and dealing with the deficit we have delivered steady improvements to the economic prospects of working people. Now is the time to lock in that economic growth and ensure the proceeds are spread to everyone in our country.

‘There is only one leader at this election who will put rights and opportunities for ordinary working families first.

‘The choice next month is clear: economic stability and a better deal for workers under my Conservative team, or chaos under Jeremy Corbyn, whose nonsensical policies would trash the economy and destroy jobs.’

Mrs May will repeat a vow to bring in tough new laws to prevent another Sir Philip Green BHS pension scandal if she wins. The manifesto will include plans to stop ‘irresponsible bosses’ making millions while company pension schemes go bankrupt.

A poll at the weekend showed that Mrs May is on course for a greater election triumph than even Margaret Thatcher at her peak. The survey of 40,000 suggested a majority as large as 172 seats.

‘Time to lock in that economic growth’

NAYSAYERS like to complain that with workers’ rights no longer protected by EU judges, Brexit will be a charter for ruthless employers to turn factories and offices into sweatshops.

Today, Theresa May will make clear that nothing could be further from her mind.

Pledging ‘the greatest expansion in workers’ rights by any Conservative Government in history’, she will promise not only to retain all protections currently guaranteed by EU law, but to build on them.

Under her, the living wage will increase in line with median earnings, workers will be represented in boardrooms and pensions will be safeguarded from greedy employers to prevent a repeat of the BHS affair.

There will also be new statutory rights to take leave after the death of a child or look after a sick family member, protection for those suffering from mental health problems and more time off for training or retraining after absence from the labour market.

‘Mrs May’s workers’ revolution’ amounts to an audacious foray into traditional Labour territory. Indeed, though many of the proposed rights are already granted by the best employers, some will raise eyebrows among Tories wary of excessive state intervention in private firms.

True, the Prime Minister’s plans should make the Conservatives more attractive to voters in the Labour heartlands who had dismissed them as the bosses’ party.

But the challenge now is to match these rights with authentic Tory policies to stimulate the growth that alone can pay for better working conditions.

This means keeping relentless downward pressure on taxes (and how out of touch the high-tax SNP looks already) while investing in essential infrastructure and slashing red tape wherever possible.

If she can pull off the double act of extending workers’ rights while helping firms grow, Mrs May will truly prove her claim to govern for everyone.