BBC
Paternity leave policies vary from Europe to Europe, but the UK offers are one of the most generous
According to a new report published this week, the UK’s new dad’s father’s offer for paternity leave is “one of the worst in a developed country.”
The government said it needs to “improve” the system and has pledged to consider parental leave. But how does the UK situation compare to other places?
BBC News spoke to European fathers about the time they could quit their job after the birth of their child and how it changed their father.
Jamie Foxx has a 3 year old daughter and is hoping for a second child.
When Jamie’s daughter Chiara was born three years ago, he says it was “incredibly difficult.”
“We had to see the hardships of our partners looking after our children,” says Jamie. “The biggest thing I remember was crying. My daughter was clearly needed support, and my wife was extremely struggling and exhausted.”
A few weeks after Chiara was born, Jamie’s stepmother flew from Zimbabwe to support her family.
UK rules allow new fathers and second parents to hire full-time jobs for up to two weeks. It applies to postnatal, birth, surrogacy, or adoption of a baby, regardless of gender, but self-employed or fathers are not less than 123 pounds a week.
The targets lower the average revenue by £187.18 a week, or 90% lower. This serves as less than half the national living wage.
Jamie, a native of Ashford, Kent, says the legal wage was “frankly a penny.”
He and his partner are currently expecting a second child in August – they began to save Jamie’s wife Zanel before she became pregnant.
Jamie says his “frustration” about his father’s salary came to attend the world’s first “Papa Strike” when fathers across the country protested outside the government’s department for government business and trade in Westminster earlier this week.
“We see relatively recent changes in other countries… why are we not keeping up?” Jamie says.
Spain has increased work breaks for new dads in recent years – Octavio took eight weeks off with his first child, and was his two months in his two months
For Octavio, spending four months at home with her daughter Alicia made a “big difference.”
He split his father’s leave into two parts of six weeks (6 weeks) after Alicia was born, after his wife returned to work, after the remaining ten weeks.
“The expanded quality time with Alicia was able to develop a strong bond that would otherwise have not been formed deeply,” says Octavio, a computer engineer in Seville.
Over the past few years, Spain has given more time to its new father. In 2019, his father was entitled to five weeks of work. However, starting in 2021, it has been extended to 16 weeks on full pay, including self-employed people. There is no cap on the salary paid. This means that parental leave is equal between Spanish mothers and dads.
“These changes really made a huge difference,” says Octavio.
Antoine benefits from France’s updated paternity leave laws
France has also taken progressive measures in recent years on his father’s leave.
Antoine is an architect living in the outskirts of Paris and has benefited from the change. When her son Thibaut was born five years ago, Antoine, who worked full-time, was entitled to two weeks of father’s leave.
However, in September 2020, her paternity leave in France doubled, and when her second child was born in 2023, Antoine took four weeks off work.
“I was able to support my wife and children,” he says. “Dads should be allowed to be more present during these family life periods that enrich all relationships and allow them to take their full place as full-time parents.”
French fathers’ leave rules mean that dads, including self-employed people, must take a week off work immediately after their child is born. Salaries are covered by employers for the first three days, but then they are state-funded.
The remaining 21 days can be split into two chunks, but it is an option and can be filmed anytime within the next six months. Salary closes at 3,428 euros (£2,921) a month.
Andre splits his father’s vacation into two
Born in Portugal and living in England for nine years, Andre says that the prominent role his father plays in Denmark was one of the first things he noticed when he moved there.
“We see dads walking with their kids and young babies,” Andre says. “I was like this: ‘Wow, I’m not used to this.’
Danish fathers, including self-employed people, can take up to 24 weeks off in full state prices.
After 11 weeks, the remaining 13 can be transferred to the birth partner if necessary, allowing it to be used as additional maternity leave. One parent can postpone the parent for up to 13 weeks until the child is nine years old.
Andre has decided to split up his parental leave – it will take two weeks right after his baby Milo has saved the remaining 11 weeks – he can take care of his nine-month-old son when his partner returns to work.
“In Denmark, there are more partners to be present,” says Andre. “You want to not only connect with your kids, but also develop the whole family together.”
Dr. Kamil Janowitz
Kamil, a psychologist and postdoctoral researcher at SWPS University, says her father gave her confidence as a father
Dads who work full-time in Poland are entitled to two weeks of parental leave. However, unlike in the UK, the salary is paid at 100%, and Kamil says it is “great.”
Shortly after her daughter Marianna’s first birthday, Kamil took another nine weeks of non-transferable parental leave. This is available to both parents as long as they are employed and is paid at 70% of their full-time salary.
“For many families, 70% nine weeks is very low,” says Kamil.
Kamil says those extra nine weeks eased a lot of “stress” as his wife returned to work after a year off on maternity leave.
“I was confident,” says Kamil. “It felt like I was doing a good job – and my daughter felt better for me.”
By the time he uses full parental leave allowance, Matthias will have almost one son.
Matthias, a native of Stockholm, says comforting his three-month-old son is “the best feeling I’ve ever had.”
Matthias is available to take advantage of one of the most generous father’s leave policies in the world. Swedish parents can share up to 480 days of parental leave, including self-employed individuals, with 90 days being specifically booked with each parent.
Papa’s ring fencing time was first introduced in Sweden in 1995, with “Papa’s Moon” being introduced. This YouSit model increased to 60 days in 2002 and 90 days in 2016.
Each parent’s first 390 days are paid by the government at 80% and up to a monthly salary cap of SEK 47,750 (£3,590). After that, there will be daily statutory compensation of SEK180 (£14).
Matthias will take six weeks off when Otto is born and will use another nine months of parental leave starting in November.
“We were able to share the load first when everything was new,” says Matthias. “The last six weeks have allowed us to be parents together — that made a huge difference.”
Parental leave – View from the UK
In both the UK and abroad, some companies pay from their pockets to enhance their parental leave, above the legal minimum. However, a 2023 study found that only 12% of fathers in low-income households were 12%, allowing employers to fully qualify for enhanced parental leave and salaries.
“Money is the ‘money’s one of the biggest barriers’ for fathers to taking time off work,” says Alex Lloyd Hunter, co-founder of Father Shift, and he hopes the government will fund better parental leave for all dads.
A report released this week by the Women and Equality Commission (WEC) said statutory wages in the UK “are completely out of the quilter for the cost of living.” The phased approach suggests that the government should consider increasing fathers’ pay to more than 90% and taking paternity leave to six weeks.
The report also considered shared parental leave introduced in 2014. This allows parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of payment after birth or adoption of their child. This review found that many families consider it “unnecessarily complicated.” It is used in less than 2% of all births born, and a 2023 report shows that almost half of dads (45%) were even optioned for shared parental leave.
“We know that we need to improve the parental leave system,” a spokesman for the Ministry of Business and Trade said the government will add that it will share maternity leave, parental leave and parental leave.
They also pointed to changes that meant that they would no longer have to be employed by the company for 26 weeks to obtain the right to statutory paternity leave.
