Aviva offers 'first day of school' leave for working parents

Published: 05 Sep 2018

Parents given half a day of leave when child starts new school.

With a new school year approaching, Aviva is hoping to make ‘first days’ less daunting for parents when their children join a new school.

Aviva UK employees will be able to take a half-day of leave when their child starts at a new school - in addition to their holiday entitlement - to allow them to take their child to school or to pick them up. The leave is available to parents of children attending a new primary or secondary school for the first time.

In 2017, 427 parents took up the “first day of school” initiative so they could support their children. This is just one of the flexible working policies Aviva has introduced to allow its employees to work comfortably with a healthy work-life balance.

In November last year Aviva introduced a groundbreaking equal parental leave policy which offers 26 weeks of paid leave to UK mums and dads when a new child arrives. The company also introduced a scheme in October 2017 to give greater benefits to employees with caring responsibilities.

Karl Hayward, who works at Aviva’s Horizon Business Centre in Norwich has been pleased by the initiative: “My wife and I will be looking to use the leave this year for our son who starts his new school in September. We used it last year to settle in our little girl when she started reception. We both work for Aviva, so one of us was able to drop her off and the other could collect. It was really nice to be able to do this both for her sake and ours.” 

Whether a child starting at primary school, or making the jump up to secondary education, we know this can be a nerve-wracking day for both children and their parents. We want to allow families to experience that all-important first day in a stress-free way and this is a small thing we can do for parents, which can make a big difference to them.

Caroline Prendergast, Aviva’s Chief People Officer

-ends-

Enquiries:

Sarah Poulter                                                                                   

sarah.poulter@aviva.com

07800 691569

Marion Fischer                                                                                 

marion.fischer@aviva.com

07800 693 219

Notes to editors:

  • We are the UK's leading diversified insurer and we operate in the UK, Ireland and Canada. We also have international investments in India and China.
  • We help our 20.5 million (as at 31 December 2024) customers make the most out of life, plan for the future, and have the confidence that if things go wrong we'll be there to put it right.
  • We have been taking care of people for more than 325 years, in line with our purpose of being 'with you today, for a better tomorrow'. In 2024, we paid £29.3 billion in claims and benefits to our customers.
  • In 2021, we announced our ambition to become Net Zero by 2040, the first major insurance company in the world to do so. While we are working towards our sustainability ambitions, we recognise that while we have control over Aviva's operations and influence over our supply chain, when it comes to decarbonising the economy in which we operate and invest, Aviva is one part of a far larger global system. Nevertheless, we remain focused on the task and are committed to playing our part in the collective effort to enable the global transition. Find out more about our climate goals at www.aviva.com/sustainability/climate and our sustainability ambition and action at www.aviva.com/sustainability.
  • Aviva is a Living Wage, Living Pension and Living Hours employer and provides market-leading benefits for our people, including flexible working, paid carers leave and equal parental leave. Find out more at https://www.aviva.com/about-us/our-people/
  • As at 31 December 2024, total Group assets under management at Aviva Group were £407 billion and our estimated Solvency II shareholder capital surplus as at 31 December 2024 was £7.9 billion. Our shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and we are a member of the FTSE 100 index.
  • For more details on what we do, our business and how we help our customers, visit www.aviva.com/about-us
  • The Aviva newsroom at www.aviva.com/newsroom includes links to our spokespeople images, podcasts, research reports and our news release archive. Sign up to get the latest news from Aviva by email.
  • You can follow us on:
  • For the latest corporate films from around our business, subscribe to our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/aviva

      More from our Newsroom