Rewriting the rules on parental leave

International Women’s Day isn’t just about celebration, it’s a call to action. This year’s theme, #AccelerateAction, is about driving real change, not just talking about it.

For us, that means building a workplace where everyone, no matter their gender, has the support, opportunities and confidence to thrive. Because progress doesn’t happen by standing still. As such, this year, we’re rolling out an update to our parental leave policy — one that reflects our commitment to both equality and equity.

Becoming a parent is life-changing, but policies often don’t reflect the reality of that change. Like many businesses, we had a one-size-fits-all shared parental leave policy. It treated all parents the same, which on the surface seemed fair.

But when we started talking to our team, we realised fairness doesn’t always mean equal — it means equitable. As a company that prides itself on challenging the status quo, we knew we could do better.

Parental leave: the rules in the UK

Parental leave is enshrined in UK law. Eligible employees can take up to 52 weeks of maternity leave, split into Ordinary Maternity Leave — the first 26 weeks — and then Additional Maternity Leave — the last 26 weeks.

Statutory Maternity Pay covers up to 39 weeks, with the first six weeks paid at 90% of average weekly earnings, followed by 33 weeks at £184.03 per week or 90% of earnings, whichever is lower.

Statutory paternity leave allows partners to take up to two consecutive weeks off within 56 days of birth. Pay is set at £140.98 per week, giving partners the chance to support the primary caregiver in those crucial early days.

Shared Parental Leave takes flexibility a step further, allowing parents to split up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay, making it easier to balance work and family life.

If you’re self-employed, you can claim Maternity Allowance for up to 39 weeks to take time off after having a baby if you meet the criteria. Learn more about self-employed maternity pay. As of 2024, there are also protections in place around redundancy during pregnancy and maternity leave.

While parental leave is a statutory right in the UK, new research from Pregnant Then Screwed and Women in Data® shows a worrying trend — more women than ever are being pushed out of their jobs for simply having a baby.

Their stats found that every year, up to 74,000 women lose their jobs due to pregnancy or maternity leave, a 37% rise from 2016. Instead of progress, the numbers are moving in the wrong direction, highlighting the urgent need for businesses to rethink how they support working parents — which is exactly what we did.

What was our starting point?

Our initial parental leave policy was based on equality. It was created because we believe it’s important to support parents through this important time in their lives, regardless of their gender.

The policy integrated all things related to maternity, paternity, adoption, surrogacy and shared parental leave, and it applied to any and every team member at Superscript who had a child through whatever means during their employment.

If the expectant parent had been with us continuously for a year, they were entitled to enhanced parental leave, which provided the first eight weeks at full pay, the second eight weeks at 50% pay and the remainder of the leave (36 weeks) at 25% pay.

Sitting in the insurtech space, our industry is male-dominated, with 56% of our team identifying as male and 7% are parents. In the past three years, we've had three women take their 12-month entitlement.

In that time, 14 men have also used our enhanced equal gender parental leave policy, taking, on average, 10 weeks off to spend with their new families.

Here’s what our colleague, George, had to say about his experience:

I felt incredibly lucky to have the ability to take as much time with my newly minted family as I did.

Superscript allowed me to take the leave in chunks over the year. I had two and a half weeks at the beginning and a couple of weeks in the middle, which allowed us to travel to Japan and then finally, I took over as the primary carer in September when my partner went back to work full time.

This meant my partner was able to go back to work when she felt ready, safe in the knowledge that our child was still being cared for by one of her parents in that incredibly special and delicate first year of her life.

Being able to share that time with our daughter was so special for me. I’m 100% convinced my bond with her is far, far stronger than it would have been otherwise. I was also able to fully appreciate the reversal in roles where my partner would leave the house for the day, go to work and come back to us in the evening. Our relationship is also much stronger for it.

Listening and learning from our team

During recent employee engagement conversations, we asked, "How can we better support new parents?"

The simple act of listening meant we learned many things from new parents and those expecting. Firstly — and this one is a no-brainer, really — but childbirth is physically demanding, and recovery varies from person to person. And for families who adopt or expand their families through surrogacy, there are other, different emotional and logistical challenges.

One thing is universal: the early bonding period is critical — but it’s important to note that not all parents start from the same place. Also, it’s not all about the maternal figure; paternity leave matters too — giving both parents time to adjust benefits everyone.

We took that feedback seriously and changed our parental leave policy.

What’s changed?

From this month, our parental leave policy now provides 12 weeks of full pay for expectant mothers and primary caregivers through adoption or surrogacy and eight weeks of full pay for all other eligible parents.

It’s a shift that reflects the reality of different parental experiences, giving extra support where it’s needed most.

Why does this matter?

Studies show that when both parents have time to bond with their child, it leads to better cognitive and emotional development for the child, lower stress and burnout rates for parents and higher workplace retention and engagement.

According to the OECD, fathers who take paternity leave are more likely to remain actively involved in caregiving long-term, balancing responsibilities at home and promoting gender equity at work.

And while policies like this aren’t a magic fix for the gender gap in leadership, they’re a step in the right direction. Women currently hold just 28% of senior leadership roles in financial services and only 20.2% of CTO positions in tech.

If we want to change that, we need to rethink the structures that hold women back.

More than a policy change

For us, this isn’t just about ticking an HR box. It’s about building a culture where people feel supported at every stage of life.

As a certified B Corp^TM and a digital-first, high-growth business, we know that attracting and keeping top talent means challenging outdated norms. We do this across our people policies. This is just one step in making sure we’re not just a place to work but a place to thrive.

We’re proud to lead the way, but we know there’s more work to do.