The Musicians’ Union (MU) joined artists, industry bodies and MP’s outside Parliament to support the Second Reading of Tracy Brabin MP’s Selfie Leave Bill.
Freelance musicians and artists are being penalised by an inflexible system. Brabin’s Selfie Leave Bill would change that by giving self-employed parents access to shared parental leave and pay.
Given the importance of self-employment to the economy, and considering that there are at least 4.7 million self-employed workers in this country, it’s strange that the UK has no parental benefits system to support self-employed parents.
Maternity Allowance, for example, is only payable to self-employed mums. This places the entire burden of childcare onto mothers, and reinforces gender inequalities at home and at work.
A change in legislation would be a massive benefit for MU members, and a major step forward in the fight for gender equality.
Maternity Allowance needs to be become more flexible so that it can be shared in chunks between the mum and their partner, working in exactly the same way as it does for people in more conventional employment.
Extending this right to Shared Parental Pay to self-employed workers would make a big difference to people’s lives and is essentially cost neutral.
The Government has no excuse for holding back this vital support for freelance workers.
Employment laws created for people in more traditional employment don’t always work for freelancers. It’s time to create a parental benefits system that works for everyone.
Find out more about the Parental Pay Equality campaign.
The MU can advise on your Maternity, Paternity and Adoption rights. Explore our toolkit or contact your MU Regional Office.
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