Parents of sick babies need more leave, charity says

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Two thirds of fathers of premature and sick babies are being forced to return to work while their child is in intensive care, a charity has said.

Of 737 parents surveyed by the neonatal charity Bliss and BBC Radio 5 Live Investigates, 77% said they were not given enough time off.

One in 10 parents had to leave their job as a result of their baby's stay in hospital, the results suggest.

The government is reviewing rules for parents of premature and sick babies.

Gemma Reid, from Surrey, gave up her job as a special educational needs teacher when her son, Gabriel, was born 15 weeks early.

Gabriel suffered heart, brain and lung problems and developed sepsis.

'Big difference'

When Gabriel was born, Gemma, 34, and husband Andy, 37, decided to take three months' shared parental leave so Andy could look after Gabriel's four-year-old sister Betsy, and see his son in hospital.

But this meant Gemma was left with just six months paid leave, which came to an end two weeks after Gabriel was taken home.

"The thought of us having extra time would have made a big difference for bonding," Gemma said.

"Financially it would have had an impact, and for my career choices. We would have really welcomed more time.

"We were at hospital every day. That doesn't really feel like maternity or paternity leave at all."

Gabriel has made a good recovery, but the couple have had to cope with a big change to their plans as a family.

"I'm very grateful he's here and I wouldn't swap that," she said. "I have given up a job I love and I will hopefully one day return to that.

"But in the meantime we are staying in our little one-bedroom flat."

According to Bliss, around 100,000 babies born every year need intensive care in their first weeks of life.

But Gemma and Andy's situation is not unusual. One in 10 of all parents surveyed by Bliss said they left their job completely, because of their baby's extended time in hospital.

Parents said that while some employers were sympathetic, others refused to grant more time, and 66% of dads said they returned to work while their baby was still receiving neonatal care.

Bliss and other organisations like The Smallest Things have been campaigning for the government to extend parental leave, and to pay for parents of premature or sick babies to reflect the length of time babies have spent in hospital.

Caroline Lee-Davey, chief executive of Bliss, said: "Statutory paternity leave runs out long before many babies born premature or sick come home from hospital. This forces many dads and partners to be signed off sick or go back to work while their baby fights for their life.

"This is not good for babies or their parents - but it also is not good for employers when valued employees are either struggling to do their jobs while under immense stress worrying about their sick baby, or having to sign off sick or leave work altogether rather than take a planned leave of absence with their employer's full support."

Currently, statutory maternity leave starts as soon as the baby is born, and statutory paternity leave of up to two weeks starts at a date agreed with the employer.

Campaigners are asking the government to change the law to guarantee that parents' paid leave will be extended by the period of time their baby is in hospital.

David Linden, the SNP MP for Glasgow East, has two children who were born prematurely, and chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Premature and Sick Babies.

He said: "These powerful survey responses back up the very same experiences I had when my own two children were born prematurely.

"So I firmly believe that the time has now come to act and extend the statutory element of parental leave to take into account the unique and challenging circumstances faced by the families of premature babies."

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has announced it is carrying out a "short, focused internal review" of the rules for parents of premature and sick babies and those who experience multiple births, to better understand the barriers they face in the labour market.

Pension contribution hike to hit pay packets

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Millions of workers could see their take-home pay fall in six weeks' time when the amount they have to pay into their pension pot increases.

Analysis for the BBC has examined how pay will be hit when higher contribution rates for those with auto-enrolment pensions kick in.

Since 2012, 10 million eligible workers have been automatically signed up to workplace pensions.

From April, their contribution will rise from 3% of their salary to 5%.

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Tom McPhail, head of policy at the investment company Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "This is quite a significant increase relative to what they've been paying to date.

"This is going to affect up to 10 million people who've been auto-enrolled in the past few years, so the potential impact of this change is quite substantial."

The analysis carried out for the BBC by Hargreaves Lansdown suggests the annual take-home pay of someone earning £15,000 will typically be £49 lower, if they pay contributions on their entire salary.

Someone on £30,000 will take home £253 less according to the calculations.

The hit to net pay could have been bigger but a tax cut for most earners will soften the blow of higher auto-enrolment contributions.

The personal allowance is due to increase to £12,500 from April.

'Auto-enrolmaggedon'

Some in the industry worry lower take-home pay could lead people to opt out of saving for a pension.

The change coincides with uncertainty in the economy, leading some to dub the move "auto-enrolmageddon", although the industry is not expecting a big jump in opt-outs.

The government says it will closely monitor what happens.

The rate of people stopping saving into a workplace pension was just 0.7% in the three months following the first increase in contribution rates in April 2018, compared with 0.6% for the previous four years.

Speaking on a recent visit to this electronics factory, Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, told the BBC: "I'm hopeful it won't have an impact because we need to encourage people to save more."

Addressing last year's contribution increase, she said: "Some people were nervous we would see saving drop off. It hardly happened at all."

The government and the pensions industry regard auto-enrolment as a huge success.

"Anyone that can afford to stay in a pension absolutely should do so as that money will come in useful for them later on," said Mr McPhail.

There is a widespread view in the pensions industry that workers' contributions may have to rise even further if they want a decent retirement income.

The work and pensions secretary said persuading people to save for their own pensions was "a really important change in the culture that we're seeing in the UK".

The law requires that, as a minimum, contributions are based on earnings between £6,032 and £46,350.

The government wants the first £1 of earnings to count towards a pension, and plans to introduce this change in the mid-2020s.

Employers' minimum contributions are also due to increase in April from 2% to 3% of a workers' salary.

Karl Marx's London grave vandalised again, with red paint

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A memorial to Karl Marx at the cemetery in north London where the 19th century political philosopher is buried has been defaced for the second time in less than a fortnight - this time with red paint.

Earlier this month, the monument in Highgate cemetery, which is among British structures listed as being of exceptional historical interest, was damaged with a hammer.

Pictures posted on Twitter by the cemetery on Saturday showed the marble gravestone daubed with political slogans.

“Senseless, stupid, Ignorant,” the cemetery said. “Whatever you think about Marx’s legacy, this is not the way to make the point.”

A plaque within the gravestone, bearing epitaphs to Marx, his wife and grandson, which was the object of the earlier hammer attack, was also daubed with red paint.

The German revolutionary socialist, author of “Das Kapital” and co-author of the “Communist Manifesto”, lived in London from 1849 until his death in 1883.

His memorial has been attacked in the past with paint, and in 1970 an attempt was made to destroy it with a bomb.

The incident was the latest attack on memorials of historic interest in London.

Paint was splashed on a statue of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill last month and on a sculpture commemorating the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command in London’s Green Park.

May to hold Brexit talks with EU's Juncker; urges party unity

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Prime Minister Theresa May is to hold Brexit talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker next week, her office said on Saturday, following this week’s symbolic defeat in parliament which was widely interpreted as undermining her negotiating strength with the EU.

Her office did not give a date for the talks but said May planned to speak to the leader of every EU member state over the coming days.

On Monday, Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay will meet EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, it added in a statement.

On Tuesday, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, will make a speech setting out what changes would be required to eliminate the legal risk that Britain could be trapped in a Northern Irish backstop indefinitely.

May’s defeat in last Thursday’s symbolic vote undermined her pledge to EU leaders that she could pass her deal with concessions primarily around the Irish backstop - a guarantee that there can be no return of border controls between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland.

The issue has become one of the main points of contention ahead of Britain’s planned departure from the EU next month after 45 years.

May’s office said she had written to her divided Conservative MPs urging them to overcome their differences over leaving the EU in the national interest.

“Our party can do what it has done so often in the past: move beyond what divides us and come together behind what unites us; sacrifice if necessary our own personal preferences in the higher service of the national interest ...,” she wrote.

UK regional airline Flybmi goes into administration blaming Brexit

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British regional airline Flybmi has gone into administration and has cancelled all flights with immediate effect, the company said in a statement on Saturday, blaming Brexit uncertainty as one of the reasons for its collapse.

A spokesperson for British Midland Regional Ltd said the company had taken the decision due to increased fuel and carbon costs and to uncertainty arising from Britain’s plans to leave the European Union on March 29.

The airline, based in the English East Midlands, operates 17 planes flying to 25 European cities. It employs 376 people in Britain, Germany, Sweden and Belgium.

“We sincerely regret that this course of action has become the only option open to us, but the challenges, particularly those created by Brexit, have proven to be insurmountable,” the company said.

Spikes in fuel and carbon costs had undermined efforts to move the airline into profit.

It added: “Current trading and future prospects have also been seriously affected by the uncertainty created by the Brexit process, which has led to our inability to secure valuable flying contracts in Europe and lack of confidence around bmi’s ability to continue flying between destinations in Europe.”

The airline, which said it carried 522,000 passengers on 29,000 flights in 2018, advised customers with bookings to contact their bank or payment card issuer to obtain refunds.

Brexit 'airbags' being tested by business with 40 days to exit day - KPMG

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With just 40 days until the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union, businesses are testing their emergency Brexit preparations to ensure they have enough cash and staff in the event of a disorderly exit, KPMG said.
Unless Prime Minister Theresa May can get a Brexit deal approved by the British parliament, she will have to decide whether to delay Brexit or thrust the world’s fifth largest economy into chaos by leaving without a deal on March 29.

“Businesses are now testing the airbags on their Brexit preparations,” said James Stewart, head of Brexit at KPMG UK.

“Time is a luxury we no longer have, so people are bracing themselves for the immediate potential impacts.”

“After a slew of poor economic data, and Brexit uncertainty stretching a long way beyond the point most people had anticipated, the mood of business is darkening,” Stewart said.

Unless there is a deal or a delay, the United Kingdom will leave the EU without a transition period abruptly at 2300 GMT on March 29, a step that is almost certain to disrupt trade and spook financial markets.

With fears growing that the political brinkmanship in London could lead, as May has warned, to Britain leaving without a deal, businesses and the EU’s executive have ramped up planning for such an eventuality.

KPMG said its sees the probability of the United Kingdom leaving with a Brexit deal of some kind at around 55 percent; the chances of a no-deal Brexit at around 30 percent; and the chances of no Brexit at 15 percent.

The Bank of England has said the hit to the economy from a disorderly Brexit could be harder than that of the global financial crisis a decade ago.

Brexit supporters say while there may be some short-term disruption, in the long-term the UK will thrive outside what they cast as a doomed experiment in German-dominated unity that is falling far behind the United States and China.