Maternity rumour provokes outrage
By Gaby Huddart
Speculation that the Government could be considering switching the full burden of maternity pay on to employers has sparked anger in the hospitality industry.
Last year the Government changed the rules surrounding statutory sick pay, thereby making employers directly responsible for footing the bill for staff absence. Now it is rumoured social security secretary Peter Lilley is similarly proposing shifting the cost of statutory maternity pay on to employers, which would save his department £700m a year.
"If this goes ahead we might as well stick up a sign at the White Cliffs of Dover saying ‘too expensive - tourists stay away', said Alan Makinson, director of personnel and training at De Vere Hotels and chairman of the Hotel Employers' Group.
"We are a labour-intensive industry and if these changes happened we would become even more uncompetitive. Our rate of tourism growth is accelerating more slowly than virtually anywhere else and this - on top of all the other cost burdens the hospitality industry has to bear - would make it worse," he said.
If employers were forced to pay statutory maternity pay their costs would go through the roof, and in the hospitality industry that would leave companies no choice but to pass on the extra costs to the customer, Mr Makinson explained.
"A lot of companies would be severely affected by this. Our industry employs one in 10 people in the UK and this would be another nail in the coffin of the industry," he added.
Susan Harris, employment and training secretary at the British Hospitality Association (BHA), said that if the Government drew up firm proposals for transferring statutory maternity pay to employers the BHA would lobby strongly against it.
"If this gets to proposal stage then it's time to start lobbying. It would be a retrograde step and would have a negative effect on companies' views of recruiting women," she said. "The industry could not support that financial burden and it would disadvantage women."
As the law stands, women are entitled to maternity leave as soon as they join a company. After six months with a company they qualify for 18 weeks' maternity pay. At present employers can claim 92% of their statutory maternity pay costs back from Government.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Social Security said: "Any talk of change is pure speculation and there are no definite proposals under consideration".
