Vets Now has substantially increased the duration of full pay maternity leave for its staff. 

Under the new policy, introduced this month, women who joined the company more than two years ago are entitled to six month's maternity leave on full pay, while those who have been with the company for less than that are entitled to three months at full pay and three months at half pay. 

After six months, statutory rates will be paid. 

Meanwhile, new fathers are now entitled to four week's paternity leave on full pay. 

Mark Ross (pictured right), CEO of Vets Now, said: “Several staff wrote to me about this issue and I agreed to look into it.

"Our previous maternity policy was six weeks full pay, six weeks half pay, followed by statutory rates, while men received 1.5 weeks of full paternity pay, so this is a huge leap forward. The changes cover maternity leave, shared parental leave, adoption and surrogacy.

"Our business has been tremendously successful in the past few years, thanks to the incredible hard work of our people, and we’re always looking at innovative ways of reinvesting our profits back into the business so it’s our people who benefit most. 

"We’re also hoping to put in place other improvements and among the initiatives we’re looking at are providing better support for staff returning to work after a period of leave, better provisions for nursing mums, a dedicated resource for parents who are struggling, and additional leave during the first year of returning to work. 

"We want to make Vets Now a great place to work for all of our staff, no matter what stage they’re at in life."

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