Five and a half months' paid paternity leave

[cumbriahandyman]

Fathers to get right to five and a half months' paid paternity leave

Yet another burden on employers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8515019/Employers-to-pay-for-staff-healthcare.html

 

[joinerjohn]

Easy way round that one CHM, Compulsory castration of all 16 yr old youths.
I'll just get a couple of rusty chisels ready .

 

[EngStudent]

It's about time paternity leave is improved in this country, though 5 + 1/2 months is a LONG time. Something like 2 months would have been more acceptable to employers, but as cumbriahandyman says, employers lose out!

Having said that, Sweden has a shared parental leave system; parents have 16 months to share between them, with the each parent having a dedicated of 60 days (in otherwords, the mother can't stay off for 16 months, but anything up to 14 months is fine).

 

[Inky Pete]

As the article says, the current entitlement is a total of 12 1/2 months, of which 9 1/2 months is paid, with dad getting the half month and mum getting the rest.

The proposal is for a total of 13 1/2 months, of which 10 1/2 is paid, but more shared between mum and dad. If dad takes the maximum 5 1/2 months, then mum can only take 5 months with pay.

Not much of an increase overall, and could actually result in the same or slightly lower costs to business overall.

Think about it, if one parent is going to be the "stay at home" and they will use the unpaid leave as well as the paid, then most couples will choose for the unpaid leave to be taken by the parent who earns the least.

Couple of things I'm not sure about with the whole paternity leave thing are - what if one parent doesn't work and claims benefits? They are ALREADY being paid by the taxpayer to stay at home and look after the kids, why should the other parent also get paid leave? What if the two parents aren't together? Can a dad in this situation get paternity leave for a kid he has no interest in?

 

[thatbloke]

Look on the bright side , my missus got sacked for being pregnant. No maternity leave, no pay , left us in a right mess.
I dont think its a burden on employers at all, its a burden on any parent having to work and look after small babys and does effect their productivity in the work place.
Would you want your employees turning into work after sitting up all night nursing a baby? Thats a liability right there.
In my view it should be two years maternity pay.

 

[snico]

Look on the bright side , my missus got sacked for being pregnant. No maternity leave, no pay , left us in a right mess.
I dont think its a burden on employers at all, its a burden on any parent having to work and look after small babys and does effect their productivity in the work place.
Would you want your employees turning into work after sitting up all night nursing a baby? Thats a liability right there.
In my view it should be two years maternity pay.

Why didnt you take legal action against her employer?

 

[Inky Pete]

In my view it should be two years maternity pay.

So you'd be happy to take someone on to do a job, six months later they tell you they're pregnant, off they go on 2 years paid leave, during that 2 years they get pregnant again, another 2 years paid leave etc. etc.

You could end up paying them full pay for the best part of a decade while they knock out kid after kid and don't do a single days work!!!

That'll hurt you're productivity more than the odd employee who's had a sleepless night!

 

[snico]

Maternity pay isnt full pay though

 

[mypetearthling]

Maternity leave is paid at 90% of average wage for the first six weeks then £123(ish) per week for the next 33 weeks.

The two weeks 'paid' time off that a father can have is at the base rate of £123(ish).
It's the reason that so few fathers take the time off that's offered to them....

 

[mikeyd]

The two weeks 'paid' time off that a father can have is at the base rate of £123(ish). It's the reason that so few fathers take the time off that's offered to them....
K

Spot on. Today was my first day back at work after taking 2 weeks 'holiday' following the arrival of our second child. Last time I took it as paternity pay but stupidly didn't think about it enough to realise the £123 they give is before deductions.

 

[sooey]

Look on the bright side , my missus got sacked for being pregnant. No maternity leave, no pay , left us in a right mess.
I dont think its a burden on employers at all, its a burden on any parent having to work and look after small babys and does effect their productivity in the work place.
Would you want your employees turning into work after sitting up all night nursing a baby? Thats a liability right there.
In my view it should be two years maternity pay.

What a ridiculous post.

 

[geraint]

what was the two weeks for...... only thing i can think of is a bloody good wetting the head....

 

[LooPrEvil]

Fathers to get right to five and a half months' paid paternity leave

Maybe now is time for us to get a few kids pumped put.

 

[corgiman]

at least take us out to dinner first

 

[mikeyd]

what was the two weeks for...... only thing i can think of is a bloody good wetting the head....

I wish
It was a cesarean so I was put to good use while she (WMBO) recovered.
It was nice to go back to work today for a rest.