UK Paternity Leave: Time for change?!

Is 2 weeks long enough?

• 0%Yes
• 0%No

With our second newborn baby due in a few weeks I thought I'd share some quick comparisons with other countries.

Background: With our first child being born at the end of lockdown with job layoffs and a severe lack of income we had to survive on the minimum statutory maternity pay and no paternity pay. Our house deposit and every spare penny we had soon dwindled away in childcare costs and just keeping our heads above water.

Fast forward a few years, we're in a much better place and have more financial stability ready to raise our second child but we've felt the pain, stress and isolation that the first year of parenting brings and the goverment hasn't improved it's support for new parents, in fact it's getting worse.

Most forward thinking countries understand the economic importance of having loving parents raising their own children in their first year where a child's brain develops fastest. In today's economy this is near impossible with both parents expected to work and rocketing childcare costs.

Both parents and children should feel valued and a want to improve their country for the better but instead most parents feel unsupported, let down and angry.

Birth rates are declining, inflation is rising and we expect our children and grand children to pay our pensions yet we barely support them in their most crucial early weeks and months of life. Should we not be investing in our countries children instead of penalising them?...

As a first world country here's how we compare to more forward thinking (and the happiest per capita) countries:

🇮🇸 Iceland: Up to 12 months, split between parents, with strong pay.

🇸🇪 Sweden: 480 days (16 months) for both parents, with individual non-transferable days.

🇵🇪 Peru: up to 21 weeks .

🇱🇦 Laos: 17 weeks .

🇷🇼 Rwanda: 16 weeks .

🇰🇲 Comoros: 15 weeks .

🇧🇯 Benin, 🇾🇪 Yemen: ~12 weeks each .

🇪🇸 Spain: 16 weeks—equal paid leave for both parents as of January 2021 .

🇯🇵 Japan: Theoretical maximum of 52 weeks parental leave, with 4 weeks reserved for birth-time paternity leave.

🇳🇴 Norway: 15 weeks reserved for fathers at 100% pay .

🇨🇦 Canada: 5 weeks

🇩🇪 Germany: shared parental leave up to 14 months.

The not so good....

Australia, Denmark, France, New Zealand, South Africa, Poland, Singapore, Italy, Netherlands, China, South Korea, Belgium, India, Mexico: all typically 1 week to 4 weeks.

Worst performer in the western world is the 🇺🇸 USA with 0 days paternity leave.

Why do the richest countries in the world value their children the least? Food for thought...

Sign this petition if you believe in inmproving statutory paternity leave in the UK to better support families.

1. Extend statutory paternity leave to a minimum of six weeks.

2. Increase statutory paternity pay to full income replacement.

3. Make it a legal requirement for employers to offer flexible arrangements to employees taking paternity leave (e.g. taking in chunks.