New fathers have been “betrayed” by Labour’s flagship employment rights bill, campaigners have said, after it emerged that a promised “day one” right to paternity leave will not include the right to statutory pay.
The Guardian has learned that while the bill will give an estimated 30,000 more new dads each year statutory paternity leave, they will still need to have worked for the same employer for at least nine months before being eligible for statutory paternity pay.
The revelation has caused anger in Labour ranks and among campaigners for better paternity leave, and sparked manoeuvres to try to force ministers to change course, with a flurry of amendments tabled when the bill comes to the Lords for debate on Tuesday.
The Fatherhood Institute, which is campaigning for six weeks’ well-paid leave in the baby’s first year, described the lack of day one rights to pay for new fathers as a “betrayal”.
Kathy Jones, the CEO of the charity, said ministers had repeatedly pointed to the employment rights bill as a significant step towards a better system and suggested further policy would come after their parental leave review later this year.
“Making paternity leave and pay a day one right – and the promise of bigger changes – felt like a sign of good faith, after many years of this important policy area being totally neglected,” she said. “So to find out the pay element isn’t included feels like a betrayal.”
On Tuesday, the Labour peer Ruth Lister will ask for an amendment calling for the government’s promised parental leave review to consider introducing a Scandinavian-style “daddy month” of reserved parental leave, with better pay and including self-employed fathers.
“The partial extension of day one rights does not touch the sides when it comes to the current shoddy treatment of fathers,” she said. “So long as women carry so much of the responsibility for childcare in the private sphere, they enter the public sphere of the labour market with one hand tied behind their back.”
Joanna Penn, a Conservative peer, will also table an amendment in the Lords that would result in new fathers being entitled to statutory parental pay from day one of a new job. “The government says it is introducing the new day one right to paternity leave, but without any funding for paternity pay it’s just hot air,” she said. “The low rate of statutory parental pay already makes it impossible for many dads to take leave, but how many can afford to take two weeks off completely unpaid?”
The Labour MP Stella Creasy, who helped secure a government review of all parental-leave rights by next year in the employment rights bill, said that if the government only improved maternity rights, they would only entrench maternity discrimination.
“Many parliamentarians understand the need to make sure that women are not penalised for having babies, and men need time with their children – that’s good for the economy and good for parents,” she said.
A groundswell of support for better rights for fathers is growing in Westminster, with dozens of Labour MPs joining forces with the campaign group the Dad Shift. Campaigners have long argued that the UK has one of the least generous paternity offers in the world, with the UK ranked 40th out of 43 OECD countries.
Employed fathers in the UK get two weeks’ statutory paternity leave paid at £187.18 a week (less than half the “national living wage”), which accounts for only 1.9% of all government spending on parental leave.
A government spokesperson 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 wider statutory parental leave to ensure it offers the best possible support to families.”
