U.K. moots paternity leave for fathers

U.K. moots paternity leave for fathers

	Published : Thu, 20 Oct 2005 06:05 By : Amy Watts Print this Story

LONDON: British government is enacting a regulation that allows fathers of new-born babies to avail of three months of paid leave, called paternity leave.

Trade and industry secretary Alan Johnson said the proposal is part of the work and families bill and will help parents to balance the demands on their jobs with taking care of the child. The bill also envisages to increase the paid maternity leave for new mothers from six months to nine months from April 2007. At the moment, mothers have an option to avail of six months unpaid leave in addition to the six months paid leave. The government wants to enhance the paid leave to one year.

Johnson said fathers could take three months' leave if the mother, who may be paid more, feels she needs to go back to work. The bill stipulates that those wanting the leave should give two months' notice of the date they intended to rejoin duty.

Johnson claimed the provisions are being included after consultations with businesses and that the Institute of Directors and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) had backed the proposals..

However, the CBI along with the British Chamber of Commerce, said the proposals could prove to be an administrative nightmare. CBI's deputy director general John Cridland said while the business community recognised the aspirations of the employees, the new unexpected right for fathers has caused concern, particularly amongst smaller firms.

The Federation of Small Businesses said the proposals will cause problems for small employers. Alan Tyrrell of the federation said 97 per cent of businesses in the UK employ less than 20 people and these employers will find it very difficult to put in place arrangements to hire suitably trained staff to take the place of employees who avail of the paternity leave.

The payment to the fathers would be at the rate of 106 pounds a week, which will be reimbursed to the companies by the treasury. Johnson said the bill would benefit some 440,000 fathers and will have a minimal impact on businesses.