On Monday, Haringey Council voted to introduce parental leave for all its members.

A motion was passed that ‘members shall continue to receive their Basic Allowance in full in the case of maternity, adoption, shared parental, paternity and sickness leave, as long as they remain a Councillor.’ This will include ‘members becoming parents through surrogacy arrangements.’

Councillors will be entitled to up to a 52 weeks’ maternity or adoption leave, and two weeks’ paternity leave, or will be able to apply for shared parental leave.

The policy will also apply to the Special Responsibility Allowance, which continue to be available to councillors on parental or sickness leave for up to six months.

The decision comes after pressure from the LGA Labour Women’s Taskforce for councils across the country to implement parental leave policies. They have pointed out that, as of 2017, only 4 per cent of local authorities were providing parental leave. In other councils, arrangements for leave are ad hoc and depend on the leader at the time.