Paternity leave in the UK: time for a change + free policy template

The UK has the least generous paternity leave entitlement in Europe. Currently, the statutory entitlement to paternity leave is two weeks and the weekly rate for paternity pay is £172 a week, which is 44% of the national living wage. Shockingly, new survey data reveals that for 1 in 5 (20%) dads, no parental leave options were available to them fol... See more

I would have loved to take more than two weeks off with my kids, but the reality is we just couldn’t afford it. As the main breadwinner, cutting my income down to statutory pay after two weeks would have meant struggling to pay the mortgage. Shared Parental Leave only works if both parents’ employers offer generous pay, which isn’t the case for mos... See more

‘Well, it’s the usual suspects: Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden. The countries where childcare is properly subsidised, where ring-fenced, properly paid paternity leave means dads are far more likely to take time out to care for their children, and flexible working is the norm for all employees. In these countries, mothers report far higher levels

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The government has committed to reviewing parental leave during its first year in office.

It says it wants statutory paternity leave to be a day-one right for all employees. Currently, it applies to dads who have been employed for 26 weeks or more.

But even with these proposed changes, campaigners say the UK's parental leave system is one of the wors... See more

However, implementing such policies is not without challenges. There may be concerns about the cost implications or potential disruptions to workflow. There are also, of course, many employees who are not parents, and it is important to ensure that they are supported as well, designing policies so that periods of leave are well planned for and adeq... See more