UK urged to give new dads 6 weeks off work at almost full pay
MPs have urged the UK government to provide new fathers with more generous statuatory paternity leave and pay to bring the country in line with other developed nations in Europe.
A new report published by the Women and Equalities Committee investigated the parternity and shared parental leave schemes in the UK and found them to be completely misaligned with both the cost of living and the approaches of other countries in Europe.
Currently, new fathers are allowed to take up to two weeks off from work at 90% of their base pay rate or £187.18 per week, whichever is lower.
In its recommendations to the government, the committee urged for statuatory paternity leave to be extended from the current two weeks to six.
The report also argued that the statuatory paternity leave pay should be raised to 90% of average earnings for the six-week period, in line with maternity pay.
“The UK’s rate of statutory parental pay is completely out of kilter with the cost of living,” the report said.
“At considerably less than half of the National Living Wage and real Living Wage, it has not kept pace with inflation and is far below rates in most comparable countries.”
“In the longer term, the Government must also consider a feasible approach to phased introduction of increases to statutory pay across the system, to bring rates for all working parents up to a very substantial proportion (80% or more) of average earnings or the real Living Wage,” it added.
The current two-week period for statuatory paternity leave was introduced more than 20 years ago and has not kept up with policy in the rest of the world. Notably, Spain allows new fathers to take up to 16 weeks off at full pay.
In its recommendation to government, the committee said the increase in statuatory paternity leave to six weeks at 90% pay should be implemented in this Parliament.
