Workers get leave to care for elderly
Conservative manifesto to boost employees’ rights – and tackle the social care crisis
WORKERS will be given a legal right to take a year’s leave from their job to care for elderly relations under a Conservative government, Theresa May will announce today.
The Prime Minister will unveil plans for the “greatest expansion of workers’ rights” by any Conservative government as she seeks to make inroads into Labour’s heartlands.
Chief among the reforms will be a legal entitlement to take time off work to look after loved ones on a full-time basis, amid mounting concern about the scale of the social care crisis.
More than six million people are acting as unpaid carers, with a third of them spending more than 50 hours a week looking after their loved ones.
The new statutory right, much like maternity leave, will mean that their jobs are guaranteed while they are caring for their loved ones, although they will not be paid.
Mrs May will unveil 11 pledges for the Conservative manifesto to enhance workers’ rights as she seeks to gain the support of disenchanted working-class voters who feel alienated by Jeremy Corbyn.
She will promise to introduce new rights for self-employed and temporary employees in the “gig economy”, and these could include paid maternity and paternity leave.
In a further announcement, the Prime Minister will say that she wants to introduce a statutory right to two weeks of paid child bereavement leave. 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.
“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.”
The new entitlement to care leave is likely to be modelled on a similar policy in Ireland, where workers can take between three months and two years off to help loved ones.
The policy gives workers the right to look after family members or friends who are considered by officials to be so disabled that they require full-time care.
A Conservative spokesman said: “We will consult on the exact detail to ensure carers, businesses and
employees can have a say on the right length and nature of leave.
“Employees would have to demonstrate that they do have a caring responsibility to access leave, as they do in other countries.”
Britain’s ageing population has created unprecedented pressure on the care system at a time when councils have cut services.
The Prime Minister has insisted that she will not shy away from tackling social care and has refused to rule out introducing so-called “death taxes” to ensure there is sufficient funding.
The other pledges include a guarantee that workers will not lose any of the protections they enjoy under EU law after Brexit.
Mrs May will commit to raising wages in line with earnings, giving workers greater representation on company boards and ensuring that employees receive as much information about their company’sny’s future as shareholders do.
She will also announce unce plans for “returnships” to give extra training for mothers ers going back to work after maternity leave and those who have taken time off to care re for loved ones.
Staff will also be given iven the statutory right to take time off for trainingnns, under the Conservatives’ plans, while workers’ pensions - will also be e given new prote protections from “irresponsible sponsible behaviour”beh by company bosses.
The EqualitiesEqu Act will also be extendedextend to protect the rights of thoseth suffering from mental healthhealt conditions such as depression anda anxiety.
The new protection for workerswo in the socalled ca “gig” economy – such as drivers for Uber and internet delivery li firms follow a reviewre set up by the PrimeP Minister led by
Matthew Taylor, a former adviser to
Tony Blair.
Other measures to be announced include representation for workers on company boards, although the plans do not go as far as previous suggestions that employers could be forced to appoint employees to boards.
The measures will instead ensure that listed companies create stakeholder advisory panels, designate an existing non-executive director as the employee representative, or directly appoint a worker representative to the board.
The national living wage for workers aged 25 and over, which currently stands at £7.50 an hour, will rise in line with average earnings until 2022.
Currently around 800,000 people receive the carer’s allowance, which is worth £62.70 a week and is paid to people spending at least 35 hours a week caring for someone, usually a disabled or elderly relative.
By 2020-21 almost 1 million people are expected to be claiming the carer’s allowance, at a cost to the taxpayer of £3.2 billion at the current rate. Labour has previously pledged to increase the allowance by 17 per cent, which would cost more than £500 millon.