Labour to give grans time off for childcare

LABOUR would introduce a new legal right to ‘granny leave’ to allow working grandparents to take time off to look after their grandchildren.

Deputy leader Harriet Harman told the Daily Mail they would be allowed to take up to four unpaid weeks a year to help with childcare. She said the policy, to be unveiled today in Labour’s women’s manifesto, would require a change in the law and would help millions of working families.

More than half of mothers rely on grandparents for childcare when they first go back to work after maternity leave. Research suggests 1.9million grandparents have given up a job, reduced their hours or taken time off work to look after their grandchildren.

But the proposal is likely to meet with a backlash from some business leaders, who will have to bear the costs of absences. Critics will argue businesses cannot be expected to cope with more rights for employees as the economy recovers from the recession.

Miss Harman said: ‘In many families, grandparents play an integral part of caring for their grandchildren and for many people that’s a financial necessity.

She added: ‘Instead of having to choose between retiring early and giving up work, or not being part of the daily care for their grandchildren, we’re saying let’s look at the leave arrangements.’

At present, parents can claim 18 weeks unpaid parental leave per child up to their fifth birthday, with a maximum of four weeks in any given year. Miss Harman said a Labour government would legislate to allow grandparents to access the leave. Employers would not have the right to turn down their requests for time off.

Sam Smethers, chief executive of the charity grandparents Plus, said: ‘This policy is also a win for employers as it helps both parents and grandparents stay in work.’