Latest news with #TheDadShift
ITV News
28-05-2025
- Politics
- ITV News
Dads in Oxfordshire campaign for better paternity leave
New fathers in Oxfordshire say current paternity rights are outdated and need to be changed to support working families. Currently employees are eligible for up to two weeks statutory paternity leave and statutory pay of just over £187 a week - if they've worked for at least 26 weeks. There's no entitlement for self-employed fathers. Statutory maternity leave on the the other hand is 52 weeks. Now campaign group, The Dad Shift, is calling for change. They say they want longer, affordable and equal leave for both parents in every relationship - same sex, heterosexual or adoptive. They also want paternity rights for self-employed people. Co-founder of The Dad Shift, Alex Lloyd Hunter, from Oxford, said that paternity leave in the UK is a lot shorter than in other counties. He said: " It's also really poorly paid. It's about 40 per cent of the minimum wage, which is below the poverty line if that was your salary. "It's not enough for people to live on, so that means you find that about a third of people take no paternity leave at all. About half of those who do, end up in financial hardship as a result, and it has problems short term for families and long term. "In the short term it means mothers are left with no support while they are still recovering from birth, perhaps if they had a C-section that could take six weeks, and they are left on their own after two, and also when they are most at risk of post-natal depression. "It also robs fathers and non birthing parents of the time they need to bond with their child. and that has long-term repercussions in terms of how the family parents, in terms of how strong that relationship will be between fathers and their children, and the children, if they have that strong relationship, there's loads of evidence that they'll grow up to be happier, do better at school and will basically be well-rounded people if they have that close relationship with both parents. " New Dad, Ross Murray from Wallingford, started a new job shortly before his daughter Lydia was born and so he wasn't entitled to statutory paternity leave and pay. He said: "In my case because I started a new job I wasn't eligible for paid paternity leave. I took two weeks unpaid but for some other people that wouldn't be an option. "At the moment things aren't equal. So, my wife was entitled to 12 months and I was entitled to two weeks. I would like to be as much of a parent to our daughter as she is able to be, but the policy stops there at the moment." Many companies offer enhanced paternity benefits and couples have the option of shared parental leave. A Government spokesperson from the Department for Business and trade said: 'Our Plan for Change is on the side of working parents, which is why we are making Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave day one rights under the Employment Rights Bill. 'We're also committed to carrying out a review of the parental leave system to ensure it best supports working families.' The day-one reform will cover leave, but not pay. It's expected to come in in 2026 and the Government said consideration will be given to businesses that might need more time to prepare for change. Alex Lloyd Hunter said: "It's welcome. There are tens of thousand of people who'll get that time who don't have it now but that leave without pay is not much good because it locks the vast majority of people out. "It's a positive step but we need the Government to go much further and make paternity leave longer and better paid." On 11th June The Dad Shift is holding a Dads' Strike. Fathers and non-birthing parents and supporters are invited to join a picket line or simply do the school pick-up to highlight their campaign.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
How Princess Kate Showed "Real Leadership" on an Important Issue Tied to Her Role Within the Royal Family
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Since returning to her role as a senior member of the Royal Family, Princess Kate has been widely praised for showing "inner steal." Following a cancer diagnosis in early 2024, the Princess of Wales underwent preventative chemotherapy. Now, Kate is being celebrated for showing "real leadership" by helping to effect change in an important area. In 2023, Kate Middleton launched a Business Taskforce for Early Childhood, with a view to inspiring companies to change their policies regarding parental leave to help nurture families. As reported by Hello! magazine, Princess Kate's efforts appear to be paying off, as "Deloitte UK [is] changing its parental policies to give all parents 26 weeks full pay." An organization called The Dad Shift is campaigning to change the law and allow fathers access to more paid parental leave. Co-founder Alex Lloyd-Hunter told Hello!, "Just last week we were outside Buckingham Palace hanging up baby grows spelling, 'Two weeks isn't enough,' so we're delighted to learn the Princess of Wales has been championing good paternity leave behind the scenes." Lloyd-Hunter continued, "It's good to see more and more companies realizing that better paternity leave is in their interest and stepping up with generous policies. But the vast majority of smaller businesses can't afford to do this, and that means their employees are stuck with the worst paternity leave in Europe." The Dad Shift's co-founder suggested that the government needs to step in to "significantly improve our statutory offer so every father and non-birthing parent gets a decent amount of properly paid leave." Celebrating Kate's contribution to the important issue, Lloyd-Hunter told the outlet, "The princess has shown real leadership on this issue—now it's time for ministers to follow her example."
BBC News
14-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Campaigners in north-east England call for better paternity leave
Dads and charity leaders in the north-east of England have backed a campaign calling on the government to improve paternity fathers currently get up to two weeks consecutive statutory leave, paid at £187.18 a week, or 90% of their average weekly group The Dad Shift said it was the least generous paternity leave in government has said it will launch a "full review" into paternity and shared leave. Scott Luke, a father of two in Wallsend, told the BBC how he had struggled following the birth of his daughter because paternity leave did not give him enough time or pay to care for his wife and bond with his new told the BBC: "My partner Victoria had a C-section with our second born, I took two weeks' annual leave and two weeks' paternity."When I went back to work, I just didn't feel ready."I was worried about my partner being at home with two children, a very boisterous toddler and a new born baby."I lost around £1,400 of pay." Alex Lloyd Hunter, co-founder of national charity The Dad Shift, said the UK's paternity provision was bad for both mothers and fathers, because it limited the choices families had about who could return to work and who looked after the said: "As a bare minimum we think the government needs to move to six weeks paid at 90% of your salary - that's what you get in the first part of maternity leave."Longer term, you can look at countries like Spain where you get sixteen weeks and Sweden, which offers each parent 90 days and then 300 days to share between them." The government has set out measures in its employment rights act which it says will make work pay for families, including a right to parental leave from day one of has also promised a review of paternity and shared McEvoy, Labour MP for Darlington, recently called for a change to employment rights for fathers taking paternity leave. She told BBC Politics North: "Dads want to spend time with their children, and that's good for mums, and good for babies as well."People say the answer is that men should take more shared parental leave, but they don't, there's only a 2% uptake because it's not really feasible for women to go back early." The shadow transport minister, Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake, said while he was sympathetic to the campaigners' cause, the impact on small businesses must be considered. He said: "Of course you want to make sure fathers have crucial days and weeks and months."There is a limit to what business can deliver for society, we can't see them as a cow to be milked." Nikki Masterman, from Blyth-based Inspired HR, said the wide raft of employment rights changes would put business under enormous strain, and enhanced paternity leave could add even more pressure on small firms. "I see it from both sides," she said. "There's real potential for what it can do families, especially on limited incomes."But I also see the challenges for small businesses."There a lot coming for businesses financially and resource wise. They're going to struggle to get their head around it."Financially I think it's going to break some, we're already seeing it happening." Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
12-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Give new dads the same job rights as mums, MP says
New and expectant fathers should have the same protections from redundancy as mothers, a Labour MP has mothers who are pregnant or on maternity leave have some legal protection from being made redundant - but fathers on paternity leave do during a debate on the government's Employment Rights Bill, Lola McEvoy said that "lack of protection" means some fathers "can't even take what they're entitled to" when it comes to paternity leave.A spokesperson for the government said it is carrying out a wider review of parental leave, including making paternity leave and unpaid parental leave day one rights, which employees qualify for on their first day of a new job. Speaking during a debate on the Employment Rights Bill - dubbed the biggest upgrade to workplace rights in a generation - McEvoy said "dads taking paternity leave are left out" from the existing protections, leaving families only way fathers are currently protected from redundancy is if they opt to take shared parental leave. But analysis from campaign group The Dad Shift suggests that was used in fewer than 2% of all births last want the law to be changed to give fathers taking paternity leave enhanced protection from redundancy from the moment they tell their employer they are expecting a child, until the baby is 18 months whose jobs are closing would be offered a suitable alternative vacancy if there is one."My generation and those younger than me are the keenest yet for more family time, but our primary concern has got to be paying the bills," McEvoy Stringer, from Swansea, said protection from losing his job would have been a huge help to him and his was made redundant six weeks before his son Chester was born in August last year and hasn't been able to find full-time employment since. Chris said it destroyed the family's feelings of financial security ahead of the birth, as well as their hopes of buying a home."That life was gone, like that. Everything changed," he said it severely damaged his mental health too, which was made worse by the sleep deprivation of being a new parent."It was pretty rough, pretty dark at times and I had some quite scary thoughts," he said."I went through those thoughts at three in the morning, holding my child, just crying."Although he has found part-time work in a shop, Chris said it won't be enough to fund childcare costs for him and his partner, who is having to return to work early to support the family."If there was a safety net there to keep us afloat for even just a little bit longer, it would have made a huge difference," he said. 'Our lives have been shaken up' One woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, said her partner was made redundant when she was 36 weeks pregnant."I stayed awake at night crying because I was afraid of what was going to happen to my family," she weeks later, the couple lost their baby said: "While we were at the hospital, he was responding to emails from the lawyers saying: 'We have just had a stillbirth.'"She said her partner then had to look for work at the same time as supporting her."He didn't have time to process what had happened to us," she said."The whole of our lives have been shaken up."He has since found a new job, but several months on he is still "in a very dark place"."My partner is now battling his own fight while being in a new job where very few people know what has happened to him," she said."I'm asking for measures to be taken to protect men, protect fathers, protect women, protect mothers [and] protect babies' lives." 'Dads are left out' The Dad Shift estimates roughly one in 60 new and expectant fathers in the UK were made redundant, dismissed or forced to leave their jobs due to poor treatment in the year to March 2024 - almost 3,700 Dad Shift's co-founder, George Gabriel, said the stories he hears are often "absolutely gut-wrenching".He added the UK's statutory paternity leave of two weeks is the least generous in Europe and Labour has the "opportunity to put this right and for the party to prove they're on the side of working dads and families". But Pregnant Then Screwed, a charity which supports the rights of pregnant women and new mothers, said the current law does not always stop mothers being published last month by the charity estimates that up to 74,000 women a year lose their jobs after getting pregnant or while on maternity leave – up by more than a third since Then Screwed founder Joeli Brearley said she had "long suspected things are getting worse, not better".A spokesperson for the government said: "We are making paternity leave and unpaid parental leave day one rights as part of our Employment Rights Bill, and are also carrying out a review of wider statutory parental leave to ensure it offers the best possible support to working families." Details of help and support with stillbirth are available at BBC Action Line.
