Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) is introducing one of the UK’s most generous parental leave policies, offering nine months of full pay for all new parents. The new policy, which comes into force on 1 January 2020, will apply to all new mothers and fathers working for the company, including those who adopt or have a child through a surrogate. Campaigners said the move was the sort of initiative that could help to close the country’s yawning gender pay gap, in which women are paid £260,000 less than men over their careers. Fathers and same-sex parents working for Standard Life Aberdeen will be able to take a full nine months of paid leave, without having to ask their partner to cut their time short or share their entitlement. Sam Smethers, chief executive of the women’s campaign group the Fawcett Society, said it was a “potentially transformational” policy for Standard Life Aberdeen employees. “It is at the generous end of the spectrum and extremely rare.”
