Labour has announced that if it wins the election it will double the amount of paternity leave that new fathers currently have from 2 to 4 weeks.
Ed Miliband has also said that he will increase the statutory paternity to £260 per week. Fathers are currently eligible for two weeks’ paternity leave paid at the statutory rate of £138.18 a week.
Currently only 55% of fathers take off the 2 weeks mainly due to financial pressures but this new rate would be equivalent to a forty hour week if a person was on the minimum wage.
Ed Miliband has said in a speech “At the same time as women are under pressure in their careers, more fathers want to play a hands-on role in childcare, particularly in those first crucial weeks of a child’s life”
A senior policy adviser at the National Childbirth Trust said “As well as the difference it will make for mums, the more that dads are able to engage with their baby in the early days the better their bond will be, so we want to see all political parties committing to policies like this that will give fathers more time with their new families.”
The estimated cost of this new policy is £150 million per annum.
Some small businesses have already said that this could affect them with new fathers taking off extra time from work.
What is your view? How much time off did your husband have when you had a baby? Do you think new fathers should have paternity leave and pay nearly doubled?
This is another Conservative gimmick for the upcoming elections. This country is going to the dogs,. Mothers should stay at home with the kids and the father should go to work like a good little boy and earn some money so his wife doesn't have to worry herself about money. I can think of a million ways to spend the the money the father would receive as he watches the mother feed the baby.
I have 4 children, all born at home. I never stayed off work for even one day. There was plenty of time for me to help my wife with the chores, do the shopping, bath the children and play with them.
Am I so different from modern day husbands????
If they can't afford it, they should wait until they've saved up.
With an overcrowded country, we should not be encouraging more new babies.
It's their child as well and some families are already on a low income why make things harder for them,in most cases children are a treasure and both parents want to spend the first week or two together.
So it becomes a vicious circle of tax and spend.
Now where have I heard that before?
Personally I couldn't wait to get back to work once my three came home 😉 Has anyone actually asked fathers whether they want this benefit or is it just another Milliband decision made without consulting the electorate?