Shared parental depart ‘failing working families’ | EUROtoday

A decade on from the introduction of a landmark scheme geared toward serving to new mother and father share childcare, campaigners say shared parental depart is failing the working households it was designed to assist.

As the only real earner in his younger household, 21-year-old Josh Wiborg could not take shared parental depart when his twin women have been born.

Like so many dads, he was entitled to solely two weeks off work, at decreased pay.

He says it left him “feeling like a stranger” to his twin women, Autumn and Winter, within the first few weeks of fatherhood.

“It was terrible,” he says. “My partner was struggling and I was struggling as well. It just wasn’t enough time.”

Introduced 10 years ago by the previous Conservative government, shared parental leave is a state-funded scheme that allows parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay after the birth or adoption of a child.

It was hoped this would allow dads to play a more prominent role in fatherhood.

But new analysis, seen exclusively by BBC News, shows it might not benefit all dads equally.

The uptake is heavily skewed towards higher earners, predominantly based in London and south-east England.

The figures, from a Freedom of Information request submitted by campaign group The Dad Shift, show the top 20% of earners make up 60% of those to use shared parental leave.

Just 5% of those who took up shared parental leave came from the bottom 50% of earners.

And since its introduction in 2014, the government has paid £40m in shared parental leave payments to families in London – almost 10 times more than in the north-east of England.

“In phrases of working households, it has fully failed,” says George Gabriel, co-founder of the campaign group.

“There’s an enormous consciousness hole, there is a complexity drawback and there is a problem about most males feeling uncomfortable taking depart off the mom of their youngster.”

Fewer than 5% of all eligible fathers use shared parental leave.

Those who have used the scheme are positive about its benefits, though.

Pete Target, from London, took nine weeks off work to look after his son, Jay, when the little boy was nine months old.

“It was the whole lot I’d hoped for,” says Pete, 36.

“We’re nearer than we may have probably in any other case been.”

But he admits it was a “tough monetary resolution”.

Because his section of shared parental leave fell outside the 37-week window for government support, he wasn’t paid for the time he took off with his son.

He says “one thing has to enhance” to ensure more dads can benefit.

“I really feel so fortunate that we may afford the monetary hit, [but] it must be virtually attainable for many males to do it.

“We need men to feel like they can take it.”

A authorities evaluation from 2023 suggests virtually half (45%) of all dads weren’t even conscious of the choice.

As his spouse wasn’t working, Josh wasn’t entitled to shared parental depart and as a substitute took statutory paternity departthe government-funded scheme that permits dads or secondary care suppliers to take two weeks off after their child is born.

Those eligible obtain £184.03 every week or 90% of their common earnings, whichever is decrease.

It meant Josh’s earnings dipped instantly after his twin women have been born.

“I had to go back to work [after two weeks] and leave my partner on her own,” he says.

“I don’t know how we got through it.”

The authorities has dedicated to reviewing parental depart throughout its first 12 months in workplace.

It says it needs statutory paternity depart to be a day-one proper for all workers. Currently, it applies to dads who’ve been employed for 26 weeks or extra.

But even with these proposed adjustments, campaigners say the UK’s parental depart system is likely one of the worst in Europe.

Blair McDougall, a father of two, is considered one of a variety of Labour MPs backing The Dad Shift’s marketing campaign for extra beneficiant parental depart.

While he says the federal government is correct to “keep one eye on the economic reality”, he’s in discussions with a bunch of fellow backbench Labour MPs to debate whether or not future adjustments can go even additional than these already outlined.

“Society has moved on but the rules around paternity haven’t,” he says.

“We need to bring those up to date to help fathers be the type of dads that most of us want to be.”

Some companies pay out of their very own pocket to supply enhanced paternity depart and shared parental-leave packages.

This can embrace extra time without work and pay that’s boosted to full earnings or the next fee than the statutory provide.

But The Dad Shift says taxpayers needs to be funding “more substantial” parental-leave packages, to take the burden off companies and guarantee each father or mother can profit.

Paul Bowen, who employs roughly 30 folks at his pie manufacturing unit and store in Chorley, Lancashire, says the rise in National Insurance contributions is the newest in a protracted line of budgetary squeezes for small companies like his.

“I’d love to give our employees extra time off, but we simply can’t afford it,” he says.

“If we can have help from the government, that’s where it needs to come from.”

Josh is now closely concerned in mentioning his twin women however he nonetheless remembers how “tricky” these first few weeks have been.

“The situation needs to be changed completely,” he says.

When he was struggling within the early days of fatherhood, he approached North East Young Dads and Lads (NEYDL) for assist.

He now works for the charity as a “peer enabler”, providing the identical recommendation and assist from which he benefited.

“I understand the struggles of other dads,” he says.

“I know it’s stressful, so if I can just help one person it is so worth it.”

Additional reporting from George Walker.