Fathers and foster parents in the public sector will be able to spend more time with their newborns following the implementation of paternity and adoption leave, which took effect on Sunday (January 1).

This initiative will also see mothers receiving an extension of maternity leave from 40 days to three months.

This change comes after a recent update of the Public Sector Staff Orders of 2004 and the current public sector compensation review.

Marsha Smith, minister of state in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, who was speaking at a Civil Service Week Public Forum in November 2022, outlined that the aim is to modernise the public sector to meet the needs of public servants and enhance their overall quality of life.

Smith further noted that these changes will ensure that local talent is retained which will result in an efficient and simplified public sector.