Need to know:
- Enhanced parental benefits should include support for every type of parent.
- Offering this type of benefit can help employers attract and retain top talent.
- When implementing enhanced parental benefits, employers should ensure they address employees’ needs.
In July 2025, the government launched a review of parental leave and pay. This covers what the statutory minimum employers offer should be and how maternity, paternity and shared parental leave is working, or not working. Some employers go beyond the minimum to offer enhanced parental benefits, but what is the business case for doing so?
Enhanced pay and leave benefits
Bright Horizons’ 2023 Benchmark, published in October that year, revealed more than 60% offer enhanced maternity and paternity pay, while Working Families’ May 2025 Working families index found that where enhanced parental leave was available, fathers took three and a half weeks more than those without, while mothers took an average of six additional weeks.
Under current legislation, eligible employees can take up to 52 weeks of statutory maternity leave, of which 39 weeks is paid, with the first six weeks at 90% of their average weekly earnings before tax and the remaining 33 weeks at £187.18 or 90% of their average weekly earnings, depending on which is lower. Statutory paternity leave is up to two weeks that can be taken separately or consecutively, with pay at either £187.18 a week or 90% of their average weekly earnings, depending on which is lower.
When designing enhanced policies, organisations must commit to go beyond statutory requirements regarding family leave and parental protections. Core benefits should include measures that support all types of parents by providing equal pay and leave.
Options could include subsidising childcare costs, a flexible or remote-first culture that enables parents to better balance work and care responsibilities, and facilitating longer periods of parental leave, says Madeline Grecek, director of global people enablement at Remote
“This is alongside robust protection from job termination or role alteration during this leave.” she explains. ”Fake flexibility is a pitfall that some employers stumble over. Flexibility also feeds into workplace culture.”
Chris Locke, executive director Work and Family at Bright Horizons, adds: “Forward-thinking employers also offer special leave for childcare emergencies, helping parents avoid income loss and stress. Employee assistance programmes (EAPs) covering counselling, parenting workshops and mental wellbeing support, round out a holistic approach.”
Not all employees will be eligible for statutory parental leave and pay due to qualifying criteria, such as the need to work for a certain period of service before taking leave. For statutory maternity and paternity pay, and paternity leave, employees must have worked for their employer for at least 26 weeks, while staff are eligible for maternity leave as long as they are classed as a worker. Employers may want to consider lowering this to include more, or all, of their workforce.
Some employers will offer to top up an employee’s salary for a fixed time to make up the difference between the statutory rate and that employee’s normal salary, says Ben Rouse, associate at Littler.
“The extent of the benefit varies, but some employers are topping up to employees’ full normal salary for up to six months,” he explains. ”With shared parental leave, there are market-leading examples of employers offering up to 52 weeks of leave for both parents, with 26 weeks fully paid.”
Key stakeholders
Building impactful parental benefits is a team effort. It can involve designing policies that reflect employee needs and employer values, with HR and people teams leading the way, along with finance teams working on sustainability and return on investment, and senior leaders ensuring alignment with business strategy.
“Employers should consider what employees are asking for, their workforce as a whole and what type of culture they are trying to build,” says Rouse. “They could also look at what is important to them and their staff and whether what they offer helps them.”
Parents’ perspectives must also be taken into consideration. Employee voices and parent networks can help to shape inclusive and relevant benefits that address real-life challenges.
“To establish an enhanced workplace culture for parents, policies need to be driven and championed by HR, legal, compliance and senior leadership to entrench them as core business values,” says Grecek. ”It is the responsibility of HR, employee line managers and senior leaders to uphold the culture of support for working parents.”
Line managers also play a vital role in enabling flexibility and fostering open conversations, adds Locke. “When all of these stakeholders collaborate, the result is a culture that truly supports working families,” he says.
Business advantages for employers
Offering enhanced parental benefits can be a useful attraction and retention tool and impact an organisation’s reputation as an employer. Enhancing the benefits increases the likelihood of talent remaining, while positioning the organisation as an attractive workplace for new staff.
“Building the business case for this starts by talking about retention, as working parents are willing to actively leave their role due to a lack of support from the employer,” says Grecek. ”UK working parents prioritise three major factors: flexible-working hours, pay and job security. What employees want from parental benefits extends beyond statutory leave.”
By recognising the benefits of offering enhanced parental benefits and supporting employees during life milestones, organisations can foster a caring and inclusive culture. This can result in better employee mental health and lower absenteeism, which are beneficial for employers and enable them to be seen as ahead of the curve.
“Employers can build a compelling business case by aligning parental support with delivering the organisation’s strategic goals,” says Locke. “Where they provide access to practical, empathetic support, they reduce stress, boost morale, and drive an increase in performance.”
Rouse adds: “It’s important to recognise that not every organisation will be able to afford to offer more than statutory leave and pay, so their business case for providing anything above this may simply come down to budgets.”
Offering enhanced parental support can provide a multitude of benefits to both employers and employees, improving working parents’ experience while ensuring employers are able to retain top talent.
