Give fathers/second parents a right to 6 weeks' paid leave in baby's first year

Change parental leave and pay to give employed fathers/second parents two weeks' paternity leave, plus four weeks' non-transferable parental leave, paid at 90%, to be taken in the baby's first year. Introduce a Paternity Allowance with similar benefits for other fathers/second parents.

The UK’s gender pay gap is above the EU average. Longer, better-paid leave for fathers should help support greater gender equality in the labour market: countries offering fathers more than six weeks of paid leave have smaller gender pay and labour force participation gaps. More than half of UK families struggle financially when fathers take paternity leave. Taking two weeks’ leave at the statutory rate costs an average earning father more than £1,000, and around 20% of fathers are ineligible.

The Government is committed to supporting the participation and progression of parents in the labour market, ensuring it is fair and works for parents.

The UK has a generous system of parental leave and pay entitlements which include Maternity Leave and Pay, Paternity Leave and Pay, Shared Parental Leave and Pay and Adoption Leave and Pay. These entitlements are designed to support parents to take time away from work to care for their children, whilst retaining a strong attachment to the labour market enabling them to return to work when they can.

At the moment employed fathers and partners who meet eligibility requirements can take either one or to one or two consecutive paid weeks of Paternity Leave within eight weeks of the birth or adoption of their child. Paternity Leave is paid at the statutory rate of £172.48 in line with other statutory parental payments.

The Government has no plans to increase the duration of Paternity Leave or the rate of pay. However, the Government has recently announced changes to make Paternity Leave and Pay more flexible for working families from April 2024.

These changes will:

• Allow fathers and partners to take their leave in non-consecutive blocks.  Currently, only one block of leave can be taken which can be either one or two weeks. Our changes will remove this barrier by enabling fathers to take two non-consecutive weeks of leave. 

• Allow fathers and partners to take their leave and pay at any point in the first year after the birth or adoption of their child. This gives partners more flexibility to take their Paternity Leave at a time that works for their family.