Six weeks’ paternity leave campaign launches in UK

The year my son was born I had one week off in 10 months so I could boost the time I had with him when he was born.

I took the UK's standard two weeks’ paternity leave, went back to work for three weeks, then took three weeks annual leave over Christmas and New Year.

I knew from then that paternity leave was nowhere near enough. Not even close. In fact, the UK has the least generous paternity leave in Europe. New dads in the UK get two weeks paid at a weekly rate of £172.48, which is less than half of the National Living Wage. And they have to have been in their job for 26 weeks prior to the 'qualifying week', which is the 15th week before the due date. 

Two years before my son was born, Shared Parental Leave was introduced in the UK in 2015 and it initially felt like a step in the right direction. It was the government's flagship policy to address gender pay and employment gaps. Uptake has remained low ever since its introduction, though. A system that requires one parent to give up their own time was never going to work.

Back in 2023, thankfully, some employers are already going above and beyond the government standard, but there are still thousands and thousands of new dads getting just two weeks paternity leave.

But it could all be about to change!

Use it or lose it

Earlier this week, our friends at Pregnant Then Screwed and the Centre for Progressive Policy (CPP) launched a campaign to increase statutory paternity leave in the UK to a minimum of six weeks paid at 90% of the worker’s salary.

It follows research they conducted that found increasing paternity leave to this level would boost the UK economy by over £23 billion by helping to close the gender employment and pay gaps.

We, at DaddiLife, have long held the belief that providing greater equality to dads at work will help to close the gender pay and employment gaps. And the research supports this theory. There are numerous studies showing that mothers return to the workforce - and do it quicker - when fathers take more paternity leave.  When men are seen as equal parents in the eyes of their employers, women have more opportunities to thrive and progress in their careers. 

Pregnant Then Screwed and CPP's campaign is calling for the policy to be introduced on a 'use it or lose it' basis, preventing parents from transferring their time to the other parent as is the case with Shared Parental Leave. It's a measure that really encourages the dad to take what is available to him. 

In fact, the research revealed some shocking statistics. One in five new dads have no parental leave options available to them because of the requirement to be in their role 26 weeks before the qualifying week. Even if you are eligible for paternity leave, incredibly nearly half (43%) of new dads said they returned to work early because they couldn't afford the full entitlement. 

You can read the full report here.

What are the next steps?

DaddiLife founder and CEO, Han-Son, hosted the panel discussion at the launch of the campaign last week. He said:

"This year is actually the 20 year anniversary of when the current two weeks statutory was first introduced, and over time it’s become more and more outdated as dads and families as a whole need a total rethink when it comes to leave. The latest research shows why it matters, not just to families, but to the whole economy too."

Han-Son later appeared on LBC Radio with Natasha Devon, discussing the research and the campaign. 

While the launch of the campaign has been a huge first step in securing better paternity leave for new dads, change isn’t going to come overnight. Read the report, share the news stories, talk to your dad colleagues.

We’re currently working on how we can best support and advance the campaign and we’ll have more updates for you in the near future.