Maternity leave will not be extended to 20 weeks after the European parliament voted to turn down amendments to the Pregnant Workers Directive.
There had been proposals, which would also have extended to contractors working via umbrella companies, to extend maternity leave from the current 14 weeks but ministers agreed this was taking things too far.
In the UK, new mothers are allowed the first six weeks of their maternity leave at 90% of their full salary and a further 33 weeks at £124.88 per week. British ministers had complained that the new proposals were impractical and would increase the cost of maternity leave to £2.4bn each year.
The minister for employment relations, Edward Davey, said the proposals were socially regressive as they would benefit the people who earned the most. He also pointed out that the proposed model was too rigid and would cause problems for countries who wanted to implement shared parental leave systems.
France and Germany also rejected the proposals saying they would lead to additional costs of €1.3bn and €1.2bn respectively.
Ministers were also reluctant to include leave for fathers in the directive saying the main aim was to help pregnant women and those who had just given birth.
The original suggestion of extending maternity leave to 18 weeks will be revisited next year and it is thought this could be more acceptable.
The TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, said the union was disappointed with the outcome. Research shows that women are encouraged to return to employment if maternity pay is increased and this should be encouraged by ministers, he added.
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Image: My pregnant wife by davhor
