<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=629 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3>Labour pledges new worker rights


</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=416><!-- S BO --><!-- S IIMA --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD> New fathers are already entitled to two weeks off work

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- E IIMA -->Labour has said it intends to enhance parental rights if it wins a third term of office, a newspaper report suggests.

The proposals are likely to include longer paid maternity leave, higher paternity pay and extending flexible working rights to carers.

The plans were outlined by Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt in an interview with the Financial Times.

Business groups have already expressed concerns at the proposals, which they say would have a "crippling effect".

The plans have not yet been agreed across the government, but Ms Hewitt says she has identified three areas which in her "personal view" should be included.

Her latest comments follow an interview with The Times last year in which she said new fathers could get six months off work unpaid to care for their babies.

<!-- S IBOX --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=208 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5></TD><TD class=sibtbg> The impact on smaller firms could be particularly damaging


Susan Anderson, Confederation of British Industry

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Under Ms Hewitt's latest and most controversial plan, working mothers should get some or all of the second six months of maternity leave paid.

Rules introduced in April 2003 entitle working mothers to six months' paid leave, followed by six months of unpaid time off.

Susan Anderson of the Confederation of British Industry, an employers' body, said the government should think about the impact of the proposals on employers.

"The impact on smaller firms could be particularly damaging," Ms Anderson told BBC News.

"Smaller firms need more certainty about when employees are going to return from maternity leave and paternity leave."

Fathers' rights

Ms Hewitt also said she wanted to increase the rate of Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP).

Under current rules, fathers get £102.80 a week or 90% of their average weekly earnings if this is less, for two weeks.

The proposal would increase SPP to a minimum of 90% of average weekly earnings.

The existing benefit, also introduced in April 2003, has had limited success largely because the rate has been set too low.

Official figures released earlier in the year showed only a fifth of working fathers had taken up the right.

As many as 400,000 fathers each year could be eligible for time off, and take-up was expected to be about 70% when the benefit was launched. In her third proposal, Ms Hewitt said she was looking at an extension of flexible working rights for parents of young children to employees with other caring responsibilities, such as those with disabled or elderly relatives. Since April 2003 parents of children under six years of age, and parents of disabled children under 18, have the legal right to request more flexible working arrangements.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3672172.stm