Report: Fathers and the workplace

Current workplace policies to support fathers do not deliver what they promise, according to a report from the Women and Equalities Committee.

Key findings:

• The right to request flexible working has not created the necessary cultural change in the workplace.
• The government has admitted that its shared parental leave policy, intended to allow fathers to share care in their child’s first year, will not meet its objective for most fathers.
• Despite positive steps forward for working fathers in recent years, the Committee does not think fathers should have to wait longer for workplace policies to catch up with the social changes that are taking place in men and women’s lives.

The report outlines a number of recommendations to improve the provisions for working fathers. Among them are suggestions to increase Statutory Paternity Pay to 90 per cent of the father’s pay, and to give consideration to the costs and benefits of introducing a new policy of 12 weeks’ dedicated leave for fathers in the child’s first year, to replace shared parental leave.