‘Not many of us anticipated that leaving the EU could have an impact upon thousands of working parents and carers, but it will.’
Professor Eugenia Caracciolo di Torella writes about the impact of Brexit on working parents and carers in a July 2018 article for The UK in a Changing Europe.
Key points include:
- Thanks to EU law, thousands of individuals have gained real and substantive rights
- Although a large-scale roll-back of rights is unlikely, exemptions to family-friendly policies could be introduced for small employers
- The UK will also be able to decide whether to implement future EU-led developments such as the future adoption of a Carers Directive
- However, social policy initiatives in the EU will have a better chance after Brexit without the UK ‘dragging its heels’
Brexit poses serious and concrete risks that hard-fought achievements for parents and carers will be slowed down. Paradoxically, valuing carers has never been more important.
