Fathers 'must be given paid paternity leave for four months' demands equality watchdog

Daily Mail



Fathers should be given four months of paid leave to be with their new babies, a groundbreaking report said last night.

It demanded a radical shake-up of the amount of time parents - and especially dads - are allowed to take off to care for their newborns.

Statutory maternity leave should also be cut from nine months to six months, a report from the equalities watchdog says.

The report, by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, warned that women are missing out at work because employers are wary of giving them jobs because they could ask to take lengthy maternity leave.

In a radical new study, the group said that bolstering maternity leave had 'entrenched' the idea that only mothers looked after children.

But this damaged women's careers by making them less attractive employees, said the report.

Under proposals outlined by the commission, fathers and mothers would be entitled to four months of 'parental leave'.

Eight weeks would be paid at 90 per cent of their salary and the rest at the statutory rate of £117.18 a week.

Fathers would be given the first two weeks of paternity leave at 90 per cent. The parental leave could be taken after a mother's six months of maternity leave comes to an end. Dads would not be allowed to transfer any unused leave to their partners.

But business chiefs are likely to balk at the scheme, which would cost around £5.3billion to introduce over the next decade on top of the £2billion it currently costs.

And the plans are likely to relight a furious Cabinet row over maternity rights. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson is eager to shelve proposals to extend maternity leave to 12 months after business leaders warned it could harm firms already struggling to cope with the recession.

Labour's deputy leader and women's minister Harriet Harman, on the other hand, is determined to press ahead to repair Britain's reputation as one of the least friendly countries in Europe.

The call from the Commission will bring protests from critics who are concerned that the traditional family with a stay-at-home mother is under sustained attack from the Government.

Labour has set out plans to double paternity leave - currently a statutory two weeks - following research that shows most dads would like to spend more time at home.

The new report has also called for higher levels of maternity and paternity pay to increase uptake, particularly among men, single parents and low income families.

Nicola Brewer, the Commission's chief executive, said: 'Our report indicates some British employers are ahead of the legislation in terms of adopting modern ways of working, and we are heading in the right direction on flexibility.

'The challenge now is to keep up the momentum in the face of the economic downturn and extend the benefits to fit us for the upturn.

'But when it comes to modern approaches to parental leave, we may need to try a different route. We are proposing one of the most radical changes in our approach to parental leave in a decade.

'Changing the way we approach parental leave could be one way of tackling the gender pay gap.

'By supporting men to be good fathers as well as good employees, it would also help children to do better at school.'

The radical change is also needed to make sure that fathers and lower-income parents took advantage of their rights, the report said..

To back up its campaign, the Commission published the findings of a survey of 4500 parents which showed strong demand for new flexible working practices.

Labour introduced two weeks paid paternity leave in 2003. Since then 90 per cent of fathers have taken at least one week off. But two years ago, then children's minister Beverley Hughes said the Government was looking at extending paternity leave to four weeks to help families in the first weeks of a child's life.

Last night Stephen Alambritis, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: 'We really need a reality check before starting to consider another push on parental leave. These are very difficult times.'

Fuck 'em. They chose to breed, so they can quit their damn job to be with the maggot. They shouldn't still be considered an employee. I'm so sick of seeing people get special considerations just because they thought, for some (or no) reason, that it would be a good idea to reproduce. If society made things less breeder-friendly, a lot fewer people would spawn.

Seriously - more benefits. Thanks for a great article.

If this idiocy passes, it will be another blow against businesses. Now potential employers are stuck with knowing that hiring either a man or a woman with kids means they can walk off the job for months...and there'll be nothing they can do about it. And thanks to laws forbidding 'discrimination' against parents, they can't hire too many CF or risk being taken to the cleaners in court.

i support the idea of dads getting more time with their kids (who knows it might encourage their partners and kids to see them as people not just a walking talking wallet) but to allow both parents to take months off would be unbearable for most businesses. I'm not even going to go into whether or not its fair because it'll just piss me off

why can't couples split the current maternity leave how they want.....ooh I forgot that would involve the mums actually getting off their arses and going back to work