26 January 2010

Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Part-Time, part of your solution reception

Tuesday 26 January 2010

[Check against delivery]

Good afternoon everyone, it’s great to see so many of you here today. I want to take this opportunity to thank you and everyone working on the campaign for all your work to promote family friendly working not just in London but across the country.

I want to thank Emma Stewart and the rest of the London part time working Group for all they have done looking at how to work with employers, managers and the employees to get them to think differently about the potential advantages that flexible and part-time work can bring.

And I want to welcome too, the work of the Family Friendly Working Hours Taskforce set up last year, looking at what more we can do to help people balance their work and family life but in a way that helps business too.

We believe that promoting flexible and part time working can be very good for business as well as for families. And we want to work with business and employers on how we can do more.

Supporting business

This has been a difficult year for many businesses as a result of the recession.

We saw today the welcome news that we are coming out of the downturn but many businesses are still finding it hard. So we are determined to keep up the support for business to help them grow in the recovery too.

Many businesses have found that offering part time work has been an important part of their response to the recession. It has helped them keep going and cope with pressures and costs, and it has prevented unemployment rising as high as in previous recessions.

For many employers flexibility makes good business sense – it’s an opportunity to be embraced.

Many other small businesses find taking on part time workers is a good way to gradually expand, to recruit new skills and talents even if they can't afford a full time employee.

But we know that many more businesses could benefit too. After all, taking on part time or flexible workers can open up recruitment to large numbers of often talented and experienced people who want to work part time alongside their caring responsibilities. It can improve productivity and boost the economy too.

Supporting families

Flexibility is vital for many families – particularly for many women to be able to work as well as care for their families too. This is not just about parents. Many people find themselves caring for older relatives too, and struggling to find work that will fit with their caring responsibilities.

And in practice we know this is particularly important for women. For many mums with young children, finding jobs that fit with school hours or child care is essential. Yet too many end up working in jobs below their skill level or losing out on promotion as a result.

The gender pay gap barely exists among those in their early twenties, but by their forties women’s’ pay has fallen far behind -- and that is heavily due to the lower pay and prospects for many part time jobs.

We need to make sure work fits with family life and not just expect families to fit into work.

We’ve done a lot

There have already been significant improvements in opportunities for people to work flexibly. Many employers already routinely offer far more part time and flexible work than they did ten years ago as the whole labour market has become more flexible. Many more mothers are in part time work now as a result.

The legislation allowing the right to request flexible working has already made a difference and has been widely welcomed by businesses – 90 percent of employers who have been asked to consider flexible working have accepted those requests. And even more significantly, 92 percent of companies have said they would consider a request to change a working pattern from any employee.

But more to do

But we need to do more. I want to explore what more we can do to help business and families take advantage of these opportunities- to support more flexible and part-time work.

Which is why today’s event, and the work of the London Part-time Working Group and the Family Friendly Working Hours Taskforce is so helpful.

I’m delighted to see that members of the Taskforce are here today, and I’m looking forward to seeing their recommendations.

I also strongly welcome the work that ‘Women Like Us’ are now developing, working with employers and especially with small businesses to provide more encouragement and support for part time working.

We want to do more, working with small businesses as well as larger employers to see how best we can support their business prospects and promote more flexible working too.

We want to do more through jobcentres and through public sector employers to ensure that more jobs are offered as potential part time, flexible or job share opportunities from the beginning to help those trying to go back to work.

We should look at whether wider opportunities for everyone to work flexibly can provoke a wider culture change – and make it easier for fathers and mothers to work flexibly too.

And we need to look again at how the legislative framework can best support more flexible, family friendly working too.

And it's because businesses and individuals – and therefore all of us – have so much to gain from flexible working, that I think it is time now to look at what more we can do to make it possible for more people to take it up

Thank you very much.