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Are men on shared parental leave entitled to enhanced pay paid to women on maternity leave?


Last year, the Court of Appeal held that it was not discriminatory to pay men on shared parental leave less than an enhanced rate of maternity pay paid to women on maternity leave.

In so deciding, the court held that “the predominant purpose of maternity leave is not childcare but other matters exclusive to the birth mother resulting from pregnancy and childbirth, not shared by the husband or partner”. Men on parental leave and women on maternity leave are therefore not in comparable positions for the purposes of the Equality Act.

The Supreme Court has now refused permission to appeal so this remains the position.


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