Your BasketEmployed new fathers in the UK are now entitled to at least two weeks' paternity leave on the birth of their child. Some employers offer longer or more flexible deals than the legal minimum, but they cannot go below it. Here are the basics you need to know about your right to time off when your baby is born.
Paternity leave was introduced to the UK in 2003, and was long overdue! There's a minimum of 2 weeks off work, paid at a minimum of just over a £120 a week - not much, but it's something.
Our recommendation is that you:
- read up on the legal minimum your employer has to offer (see below)
- then find out what your employer offers (they may be better then the legal minimum, but they can't be worse)
Paternity Leave - the details
What to do if you have problems with your employer
If your boss refuses, talk to the person above them, or to the HR department. If you have an employee representative (e.g. a trade union official), they may be able to help.
If this doesn't work, read this:
What's all this about six month's paternity leave?
The Government has also said that it will introduce a scheme whereby dads can take six months off work, starting six months after the baby has born, and receive the maternity pay that their partner would have got if she had continued to take maternity pay.
They've called this scheme Additional Paternity Leave and it's designed to create the possibility that both parents can take six months off work during the first year of their baby's life, and still keep their jobs.
Great idea, you may think, so why the delay? Why indeed. Why not chivvy them along by writing to your MP.
Author
Tom Beardshaw is a co-founder and the Publisher at Dad Info, creating the website and the things we print. He lives and works in Cardiff raising his son and supporting his other lad in South Africa. Find his blog at www.tombeardshaw.com.
Your experiences
What do you think of the paternity leave system we've got in the UK? How long should new dads get? What do you think of the proposal for six month's additional paternity leave? What do you think the system should be? Share your thoughts using the comments system below.
Comments
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Posted: Thursday, 24 July 2008 - 06:06 PM
Name: Colin
Well, to begin with, we should be getting full pay for the minimum alotted two weeks we get off now. Whats all this £112 crap? We pay thousands of pounds in taxes for years, then when it comes to a little time to spend with our new baby we get buttons to live on? I wont curse here, but that really miffs me off! Grrrr!
Posted: Friday, 30 January 2009 - 11:12 PM
Name: Andrew
Dads need better (equal!) rights on this. It seems we do have equal rights to 'parental' leave, though. This, of course, is the unpaid stuff either mums or dads can take... Proper paternity leave can't come soon enoug, though, as Dad's presence with the kids is good for everybody, and the whole of society!! I shall be writing to those in power!
Posted: Thursday, 24 July 2008 - 06:44 PM
Name: Colin
Oops, meant £117 there. Gawd, like a whole fiver more. Im rich, Rich, I tells ya. :)
Posted: Thursday, 05 February 2009 - 11:53 PM
Name: Robert
I agree fully with earlier comments regarding the abysmal paternity rate that fathers are entitled to! I think that we should be entitled to at least 1 weeks full pay and the other is at the companies discretion as after all we are taking the time off to get organised with our newborn & of course support your partner while they recover. (It aint as if it's a holiday) Lets face it, where does £117 a week get you now???
Posted: Monday, 11 May 2009 - 05:29 PM
Name: Brahim
Dear Friends,
I am from the Netherlands residing and working in the UK. Does the two weeks stipulated for paternity includes the Weekends or only working days. Also should public holidays be counted as part of your paternity days? The time I took my paternity it was during the bank holiday week while I was on paternity leave should that be counted as part of my paternity hours or days.
Thanks