‘It’s like watching your wife, the love of your life, free-falling without a parachute. You are terrified but unable to help or stop it.’ Simon is talking to campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed about going back to work after two weeks statuary paternity leave - and why he backs the campaign group’s new call for the government to introduce six weeks as standard, paid at 90% of a father’s salary.
‘Some days she begs me not to go, and I smile and walk out of the door – she thinks I’m horrible and that’s the hardest part, because I would give anything to be there. The smile is to stop me from crying,’ Simon continues. ‘My boss complains when I leave my job on time to go home, my friends laugh when I say I want to be home at a good hour to see them both. I’m a daddy but it means nothing, it seems, apart from to me. Two weeks’ paternity leave is no time at all.’
Simon’s not alone in thinking the UK’s current provisions for dads in the early months of their baby’s life are insufficient. Two decades after the introduction of statutory rights for men, almost a third of fathers are still taking no paternity leave, largely because the current £172 a week for two weeks isn’t financially viable. According to new research released today by Pregnant Then Screwed, the Centre for Progressive Policy thinktank and Women In Data, 62% of fathers would take more leave if the rate of statutory paternity pay increased.
Joeli Brearley from Pregnant Then Screwed, cites evidence showing that better paternity provisions in other countries have proven benefits - kids do better in education and couples are less likely to get divorced. She also believes that a better set up at the start could help alleviate mental health issues for both parents. In the new survey almost a third of parents (29%) said that either they or their partner had experienced a new mental health issue in the two years after the birth of their most recent child. Given that treating perimental health issues is estimated to cost the NHS £1.2bn a year, the campaign group also argues it makes economic sense, too.
Indeed, the research is the first that shows the overall economic benefits of paternity leave – something Pregnant Then Screwed are hoping will encourage MPs to put it at the heart of their policies. The data found that countries that already have six weeks paid paternity leave have a 4% smaller gender wage gap and a 3.7% smaller labour force participation gap. It suggests the same could happen here, with 65% of mothers with children under the age of 12 saying that increasing paid paternity leave would have a positive impact on the mother’s readiness to return to work.
The organisations behind the research estimate these changes to paternity leave – including changing the eligibility criteria to all working fathers - would cost between £1bn-£1.6bn. But Brearley argues it makes economic and political sense. ‘This is an open goal for the next government,’ she said. ‘If they are looking for a policy to excite the electorate, to instil hope for the future, to improve the outcomes for children, parents and the economy, whilst reducing gender inequality, then it’s here.’