NHSScotland parental leave policy: equality impact assessment

4. Key Findings

The EQIA has highlighted areas with potential impacts on different groups and opportunities for promoting equality.

The NHSScotland Parental Leave Policy is expected to have a positive effect in eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation across all protected characteristics. The Parental Leave Policy:

• extends access to paid parental leave up until the child’s 18th birthday where an employee advises that their child is disabled. No further information on disability is requested.
• promotes inclusion through use of gender-neutral language.
• recognises the role of parent. There is no differentiation on entitlement to access the Parental Leave Policy in relation to any protected characteristic.
• reinforces compliance with the Equality Act (2010) and the Principles and Values | NHS Scotland.
• is written to fulfil legislative requirements and comply with statutory responsibilities.

The NHSScotland Parental Leave Policy has a positive impact in advancing equality of opportunity across all protected characteristics. The Parental Leave Policy:

• is open to all NHSScotland employees who meet the eligibility criteria. Employees are entitled to 18 weeks' leave for each of their children under the age of 18. For NHSScotland employees, the first 4 weeks is paid leave, and the remaining 14 weeks are unpaid. The 4 weeks paid element must be taken before the child’s 14th birthday or 18th birthday for adopted or disabled children.
• recognises the specific circumstance that older children with disability or who have been adopted may have and extends access to paid parental leave for this group to age 18.
• will support a significant number of women through the provision of 4 weeks paid leave within the 18 weeks statutory entitlement.
• provision of 4 weeks paid leave within the 18 weeks statutory entitlement gives parents flexibility to extend maternity leave. The NHS is a major employer with a 78.8% female workforce in NHSScotland.
• promotes inclusion through use of gender-neutral language.
• is accessible through a purpose built NHSScotland Workforce Policies website. The website scores high on the System Usability Scale (universal usability scoring system). This may particularly support older staff or staff with certain disabilities, advancing equality of opportunity through accessibility.
• advocates a person-centred approach in the application of all NHSScotland Workforce policies. This is demonstrated across the policy and supporting documents.

The NHSScotland Parental Leave Policy has no negative impact in promoting good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. The policy is open to all eligible employees. Managers are encouraged to take a person-centred approach.

Currently, there is no evidence of negative impacts on individuals with protected characteristics. Nevertheless, Scottish Government will continue to monitor and review this EQIA to ensure ongoing assessment of potential impacts on people with protected characteristics.