Parental leave and pay review: call for evidence
Source: gov.uk (2025-09-10)

This call for evidence invites views and evidence on the proposed set of objectives for the parental leave and pay system.

The HMRC data tables on this page contain figures covering April 2014 to March 2024. This was the latest available data at the time this call for evidence was published. There is now more recent HMRC data available covering the period April 2014 to March 2025 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/parental-leave-and-pay-evidence-hmrc-data-covering-april-2014-to-march-2025).

To inform the work of the review, we are seeking to test the objectives that government have set out in the terms of reference and better understand the extent to which the current system supports these.

Through this call for evidence, we are particularly interested in any new information or evidence that has not previously been shared with the government and that relates directly to the objectives set out here for the parental leave and pay system.

The objectives for the parental leave and pay system are:

maternal health: support the physical and mental health, recovery and wellbeing of women during pregnancy and post-partum by giving them sufficient time away from work with an appropriate level of pay

economic growth through labour market participation: support economic growth by enabling more parents to stay in work and advance in their careers after starting a family, particularly to improve both women’s labour market outcomes and the gender pay gap, reduce the ‘motherhood penalty’, and harness benefits for employers

best start in life: ensure sufficient resources and time away from work to support new and expectant parents’ wellbeing and facilitate the best start in life for babies and young children, supporting health and development outcomes

childcare: support parents to make balanced childcare choices that work for their family situation, including enabling co-parenting, and provide flexibility to reflect the realities of modern work and childcare needs

We welcome a broad range of responses from different institutions and bodies, including advocacy groups, academics, businesses and business representative groups, trade unions, as well as parents.

We have published an evidence annex alongside this call for evidence. This sets out the evidence from various sources that the government currently holds in relation to the existing parental leave and pay entitlements.

How to respond

We encourage you to respond online if possible.

You should read the call for evidence document.

Then submit your responses online (https://ditresearch.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2owI8wy9kYcJ5BA).

Email xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx) if:
- you would like to respond via email
- you have other enquiries specifically relating to this call for evidence
Providing more than one response

You can provide more than one response to the call for evidence. For example, if you are a university research group, you might provide 2 separate responses – one response as a representative organisation and one response as an individual academic.

If you have any complaints or comments about the call for evidence process you should contact the Department for Business and Trade.