'Life's important moments' | Markel announces enhanced family leave for UK secondary carers

Insurance firm Markel has announced an enhancement to its UK family leave offering, increasing paid leave for secondary carers to 26 weeks, bringing it into line with paid leave available to primary carers. 

The change applies to all eligible UK-based employees, regardless of gender, and forms part of Markel’s wider suite of family-friendly policies designed to support those with caring responsibilities across different life stages. 

Equal family leave policies are increasingly recognised as an important driver of workplace gender equality, helping to support shared caregiving responsibilities, improve retention and reduce the long term career impact that parental leave can disproportionately have on women. 

Secondary carer leave, most often taken as paternity leave, is now available to those employees whose partner has given birth or where they have become an adoptive parent, including through surrogacy. The enhancement increases the paid leave allowance from 12 weeks to 26 weeks and is intended to ensure a more consistent experience of parental leave across carers.