Member Article

Recession threatens paternity leave

New fathers are set to suffer after reports that Lord Mandelson is to shelve plans to extend paternity leave.

The paid maternity leave was supposed to increase to 12 months, and allow fathers to share up to six months of this.

But the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) have welcomed the curb, as it believes the leave could be the ‘straw that breaks the camel’s back’ during the credit crunch.

Employee Relations Adviser at the CIPD, Mike Emmott, said: “What would have been cumbersome in good times could become the straw that breaks the camel’s back in a recession, and could damage the long-term business case for better work-life balance.”

Michael Bowman, a recruitment manager from Newcastle, who is soon to be a father himself, said: “The relationship between a child and mother is always stronger because after a couple of weeks the father has to go back to work.

“It would be a fantastic thing to do, but it would be difficult in my type of work because I would lose too much ground. “There is the balance between wanting to be there for your family and competing in a competitive market.”

Fathers are entitled to two weeks paid paternity leave, and paternity leave is available to non-biological fathers and same sex couples.

Mike Emmott said: “While pleased that this particular proposal has been shelved, we do not believe it is sustainable for this issue to be kicked into the long grass.

“We believe there remains a strong case for more generous paternity leave in the medium term. Without some improvement to paternity leave, the growing political consensus on the need to tackle the gender pay gap will not deliver results.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .