For dads, mums, kids and the economy, Labour must back longer and better-paid paternity leave

(Arterra Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo)

4 min read01 July

The newly announced government review of parental leave is welcome – but we don’t need to wait 18 months to know what good leave for dads looks like. The evidence is already clear.

Two weeks is not enough. That is the message on the UK’s outdated paternity leave system that came loud and clear from the UK’s first DadStrike earlier this month. It’s also the message I’ve heard from mums and employers I’ve spoken to.

In the UK we give mums 52 weeks of maternity leave when they have a new baby, while dads get just two weeks. When you take into account the low rate of statutory paternity pay, just £187 a week, it works out at less than half a week at a proper rate of pay. The Fatherhood Institute has found that the equivalent figures – looking at leave as expressed in number of weeks at full pay – are 31 weeks for Japan, 25 in Korea, 16 in Spain, 15 in Norway and 12.5 in Portugal. In fact, almost every country in the developed world has a more generous system.

Not only are we out of step internationally but we are also out of step with how parents and families want to live their lives. Research by Pregnant Then Screwed revealed only 18 per cent of people think up to two weeks of paternity leave is enough, and in polling by The Dad Shift 81 per cent agreed that “I believe giving fathers a decent amount of paid paternity leave, so they can be a bigger part of their children’s lives, is good for families and good for the country too”.

Unfortunately, shared parental leave has not been the answer, with take-up rates at about five per cent of those who would be eligible. It is too complicated, too poorly paid, and for dads and second parents to use it, they have to take part of a mum’s maternity leave.

Why does this matter? Because we are so far behind other countries when it comes to good paternity leave, we can look to them for evidence of its effects. Proper paternity leave is good for dads, allowing them to form stronger bonds with their newborns, and it is associated with better mental health for new fathers. It is good for mums too: when dads are properly involved from the start, it leads to a more equal division of caring responsibilities throughout a child’s life. And it’s good for kids, having been shown to improve their wellbeing and performance at school.

Crucially, it is good for the economy. The more equal division of caring responsibilities leads to more mums choosing to work additional hours. Modelling has shown that this increase in women’s economic activity could generate £800m of additional tax revenue and along with the wider benefits of improved paternity leave could generate economic benefits worth over £2.5bn.

So, improving paternity leave is not just the right thing to do, it will be good for growth – the number one mission of this Labour government. That is why I have amendments down to the Employment Rights Bill to increase paternity pay from two to six weeks, paid at 90 per cent of salary, capped at average earnings. This is an idea with cross-party support. It reflects the recent conclusions of the Women and Equalities Select Committee and many new Labour MPs, including new dads, have been campaigning for better entitlements.

Many employers already see the benefits of better paternity leave and offer more generous schemes. But, importantly for smaller businesses, the cost of increasing statutory leave entitlements would, as under the current system, be rebated by the government – levelling the playing field for SMEs that would like to offer more leave but cannot afford to.

We don’t need a review to know why and how to improve paternity leave – the evidence is already there. Our current system of paternity leave is over 20 years old. Now is the time to replace it with a modern policy that will support parents and grow our economy.

Baroness Penn is a Conservative peer