Future policy | Why are some leaders so afraid of women taking maternity leave?

To hear a business leader speak about avoiding maternity pay or costs is the kind of comment that you might feel belongs more in an 80s or 90s sitcom, at best.

But in a recent meeting at Denbighshire council, this was an all-too-real 2023 moment, as a councillor said that hiring 'older women' would be a way of avoiding the cost of maternity pay (and paying for the maternity cover).

After a discussion around a report on the cost of social care, Cllr Terry Mendies said: ""You are saying that you are recruiting for care workers, that you are recruiting younger staff, and then they are going on maternity leave. So if we have to pay, or the rate payer has to pay, maternity leave for a period of six months, then we've probably got to use agency staff to cover them, and that's an extra cost. So why would you not target the recruitment to be a bit more… a bit more mature people?"

Essentially, don't hire women who might want to have a family.