Sharing leave with dad

[Tom]

Hi all

I'm wondering what mums thoughts about the Tory proposal that maternity leave could be shared between mum and dad. The Labour party is seriously considering placing this into the election manifesto too.

I think the basic idea is that the entitlement that mums have after the initial 6 weeks would be able to be transferred to dad in something like month blocks. So instead of only mum being able to take up to a year off, she could transfer, say, three or four months to dad - perhaps to go back to work after 7/8 months and instead of having to use childcare, dad can stay at home.

We've found this issue important, because it is a way in which the leave system can signal the SHARED responsibility of mums and dads for children. At the moment, the system forces couples into very traditional roles - only mum can take time off with job protection, and dad has to specialise in being a breadwinner, even if the couple wants to live less traditional gender roles.

I'd be really interested in hearing mums reactions to this idea, to help inform our (Fathers Direct) thinking. Any comments most welcome

Caligula - all I'm saying is that is the current rate - I'm not putting that forward as a proposal!

Not to be outflanked by Howard on the issue of fatherhood, below is what Tony Blair said yesterday. The Government will be introducing the possibility of mothers sharing their leave with fathers during the first year (but not the initial period, when breastfeeding and the baby's health is the issue). In Britain we have a bigger difference between leave entitlements between mothers and fathers than in any other country in the world: social engineering which says "mums are for looking after children" and "dads are for working". That's right for some families, but there is no need to have policies that encourage everyone into this pattern.

Tony Blair, 11 November:

"Improvements in work-life balance for families ? Many mothers want to stay at home when their children are very young, especially with young babies and over time we want to support them to be able to make that choice. But fathers increasingly want to play a hands on role at home. Because my children vary so widely in age, I?m perhaps more aware than most of the changes that have taken place. When I was first a much younger father, it was unusual to see a dad pushing a buggy, picking up children from school, taking the children on the tube or bus. Now it is a much more common sight. And that?s tremendous. For research shows that fathers who are involved with their children in the early weeks are more likely to stay involved with positive outcomes for children.

We have promised that we will not make changes to the new rights for working parents before 2006. It makes sense to give new measures time to bed down. But over the longer term, we want to extend paid leave for parents and give more choice to mothers and fathers about who uses that leave so that families can choose what?s best for them. But we want and will do this in a way which minimizes burdens on employers. Greater rights for parents, for example, will be matched by more responsibilities for parents to tell their employers about when they intend to go back to work."

I'm very much in favour. we actually did split the leave with ours except I took mine as paid maternity and dp took unpaid parental leave.

but if both parties are so keen on choice and the importance of parents being able to make decisions about what's best for them why does it have to be in month blocks? or even weekly blocks (as parental leave is currently)? it would suit both DP, me and both our employers too much more if it could be taken in part-weekly blocks, but this isn't allowed (it is allowed in other countries, eg the Netherlands). Tom can you include this idea in your thinking?

Of course - we have always argued for maximum flexibility - we'd like the ability to use leave in order to negotiate part time working - e.g "I'll take my leave in half days over a period). The big issue is making things workable for employers, and ensuring the employer representatives can live with the policy - it's an area of policy where government likes to make sure it takes the employers with them.