I’m delighted MPs are taking paternity leave – if only it were as easy for the rest of us | Tommer Spence

9 hours ago 1

The start of a pregnancy is always a time of some uncertainty, but when my partner and I learned we were expecting our second child last year I was faced with a question I hadn’t experienced with our first: would I be able to take any paternity leave? The nature of my work involves working contract-to-contract and I was due to start at a new organisation within days. Britain’s current paternity leave system, fundamentally unchanged since it was implemented in 2003, only entitles fathers or other co-parents to leave if they have been with the same employer since the pregnancy began.

The exclusionary nature of paternity leave in the UK has felt like a long-neglected issue in our politics, leading to the emergence of new campaigns such as the Dad Shift. So the news that the Scottish secretary, Ian Murray, will be the first cabinet minister to take full paternity leave – a decision signed off by the prime minister – is a welcome and overdue indication that the people running our country at least have some understanding of the realities facing new parents today.

It is clear that Murray has an admirable commitment to fathers playing an active role in raising their children, as demonstrated by his decision to release the news publicly. But, given this, it was disappointing to see him state in his announcement that “the biggest impediment to paternity leave is culture” and that “from a wider policy perspective, I think it’s really important for dads to know they can take it” – claims that suggest the government hasn’t fully grasped the challenges fathers and other co-parents face.

Although Murray is right to challenge any cultural issues that prevent fathers taking paternity leave, the evidence is clear that the overwhelming majority of fathers want to take leave, but too many face barriers rooted in the outdated and dysfunctional policies available to them. As well as it being limited by length of employment, the UK offers the lowest paid paternity leave in Europe, with a duration far below the 12.7 week average among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

It is unsurprising, then, that polling commissioned by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has found that the most common reason for parents not taking paternity leave was financial pressure. Uptake of paternity leave is lowest among households with smaller incomes, while less than a third of self-employed co-parents – who have no entitlement to paternity leave – take any time off at all, compared to 79% overall. Similarly, research conducted by the charity Pregnant Then Screwed found that one in five new fathers had no leave options available to them and 62% of second parents would have taken more leave if statutory paternity pay were higher. Cultural barriers to taking leave predominantly rested with employers, with both surveys finding that many fathers felt pressured to curtail their leave or continue working during it.

I am very fortunate that my employer is allowing me to take leave, despite my not being eligible for statutory pay, but the pressures of my contract ending later in the year means it will be shorter than I would like. I am also ineligible to take any shared parental leave when my partner returns to work, denying me the opportunity that I had with my eldest child to spend an extended period of time together one-on-one, strengthening our relationship and my confidence as a caregiver. Shared parental leave was introduced to enable fathers to take longer periods of leave but has manifestly failed, with an uptake of only 5% among new co-parents. It has many of the same barriers posed by statutory paternity leave, such as a lack of eligibility and low pay, as well as any leave being taken away from the mother’s allowance, rather than being exclusively for the co-parent.

Academic research has shown that the countries that are most successful at encouraging fathers to take leave offer them extended periods of protected time – which they have to “use or lose” – combined with a high level of pay. Although the UK government is currently legislating to make paternity leave a “day one” right in Britain, it does not plan to alter the length of time or pay available to new co-parents, meaning the new policy is likely to have a limited impact on uptake. It would also not help the many self-employed fathers who, unlike mothers, do not have any right to statutory pay.

There are promising signs beyond Murray’s announcement that the government may make some of the changes needed to enable more fathers to take time off when their children are born. Labour’s manifesto promised a review of parental leave within its first year of office and the MP Stella Creasy has proposed an amendment to the employment rights bill, supported by many of her colleagues, calling for protected paternity or parental partner for all employees. But to make a real difference, they need to go further: extend statutory paternity pay to self-employed fathers; offer a longer period of leave, exclusively for co-parents; and accompanying this with an increase in pay available, at the very least for those on lower incomes who receive the least support right now.

As I approach my second experience of paternity leave, I can only hope the government builds on its warm words and makes the necessary reforms to ensure no other fathers face anxiety or obstacles to spending time with their newborn children.