The MPG supports The Campaign For Parental Pay Equality

The Music Producers Guild is supporting the Campaign for Parental Pay Equality, advocating for the rights of self-employed parents. Most of our members are self-employed, as are many of our clients, and they have been completely overlooked in recent legislation.

“Currently, self-employed parents are not eligible for the new Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) benefit that came into force in 2015. We believe that gender-equality should not be reserved for employees.” says Olga FitzRoy, MPG Award-winning Full Member and founder of the campaign. “In families where one or both parents are self-employed this lack of support effectively forces the mother to be the primary caregiver for their child. The campaign seeks to redress this.”

The MPG recognises that this is detrimental to both the mother’s business and to the father who is penalised if he takes leave for childcare. We are calling for ShPP to be implemented for self-employed parents. This would allow self-employed men and women more flexibility to successfully run their businesses and care for their families. The change requires no extra money per family from the government than mothers are currently entitled to at present.

Evidence is needed in order to support the campaign, so please take 5 minutes to fill in the survey. You do not need to be a parent to contribute. The results will be submitting to the Taylor Review on Modern Employment Practice, which closes on May 17th.

To find out more please visit www.parentalpayequality.org.uk