3 June 2020
The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak, MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer
HM Treasury
1 Horse Guards Road
London SW1A 2HQ
(Sent by email)
Dear Chancellor,
The CJRS & new parents on statutory maternity or other parental leave
Further to my letter of 18 May about the CJRS guidance and pregnant employees, to which I have not had any response, I am writing to urge an exemption from the effective CJRS cut-off date of 10 June, for new parents and adopters currently on statutory maternity, shared parental or adoption leave and/or pay.
Since your announcement, on 29 May, that any employees who have not been furloughed under the CJRS by 10 June at the latest will not be able to access the Scheme, our advice lines have already had several calls from women currently on maternity leave, who are not due to return to work until after 10 June, but whose place of work is currently closed due to the COVID19 lockdown and all other employees are on furlough. All these women fear that, if their place of work has not fully re-opened by the end of their maternity leave, and if they cannot be furloughed, their employer will simply make them redundant.
Clearly, the number of new mothers and other new parents or adopters in this position is likely to be significant, and I hope very much that you will agree that, as things stand, there will be very considerable unfairness to such new parents at a time of considerable financial and other challenges.
Accordingly, I hope that you will introduce an exemption from the 10 June cut-off date for new parents and adopters returning from statutory leave and/or pay, and look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Yours faithfully
Rosalind Bragg
Director, Maternity Action