Many firms believe statutory paternity leave and pay should be extended

As many as 46% of UK businesses surveyed said that they support the idea of extending paternity/partner leave and pay.

The CIPD research revealed that of the 2,000 senior decision-makers questioned, 33% of those in support of the changes believe it should be extended to four weeks, and 29% think it should be extended to either six weeks or more.

Interestingly, the findings also show that very few new parents are using shared parental leave, with 85% of organisations reporting that no new fathers/partners have taken up shared parental leave in the past two years.

Claire McCartney, senior policy adviser at the CIPD, commented, “We last explored organisational approaches to parental leave in 2016 and since then, surprisingly, very little has changed in employer practice. Our research suggests that shared parental leave in its current form isn’t working; take-up continues to be very low, and we have seen a downward trend since 2016.

“These survey findings reinforce our policy call to extend statutory paternity/partner leave and pay, which will help balance caring responsibilities, reflect the changing nature of modern families and provide much-needed financial support to working parents. Extended paternity/partner leave can have emotional benefits for parents and children, as well as improving the gender pay gap, as it enables a more equal split of time out of work to care for children.”

The CIPD is also calling on the government to provide affordable childcare from the end of maternity leave and to make flexible working requests a right from day one.

Claire added, “There is also a need for reform in current childcare and early years education provision. Taking these steps to extend statutory paternity/partner leave and enabling affordable childcare from the end of maternity leave will create more opportunities and flexibility for working parents, by allowing them to return to work earlier if they choose to.”

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