New dads say the UK’s ‘inadequate’ two week paternity leave is having an impact on their mental health, reports Marco Marcelline
A North Chingford mother and father organised a stunt at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow last month to highlight the “inadequacy” of the UK’s statutory paternity leave.
Joined by several other parents at the stunt which took place on Sunday 11th May, Soren Chargois and Dominic Ebbasi hung babygrows spelling “two weeks isn’t enough” on a washing line outside the gallery. They also hung babygrows at other locations including the Wetlands.
The UK currently allows new fathers to take either one or two weeks of paid leave, which can be taken either as a single block or consecutive weeks. Statutory paternity pay is also available for this time, though the amount has been criticised for being less than half the minimum wage.
Alex Lloyd Hunter, co-founder of paternity leave campaign group The Dad Shift, who supported the stunt, said: “The UK’s rubbish paternity leave is trashing dads’ mental health. Fathers are being forced back to work before they’re ready and when they’re needed most.
“These men are caught between the stress of keeping their families afloat financially, trying to be there for their partners and new babies, and the demand to perform at work as if nothing has changed. They have little choice but to suffer in silence and try to soldier on, even if it breaks them.”
He pointed to research by the group that shows that the average British father spends 57% fewer waking hours with their child in the first year of life – 1,403 hours compared with 3,293 for the average mother.
George Gabriel, from The Dad Shift, concluded: “From day one, most fathers face an impossible choice: earn or be present. The stress of carrying these competing expectations is breaking tens of thousands of dads each year. We can’t carry on like this. The UK’s paternity leave is broken, and it’s well past time the government fixed it.”
The group is calling on a ‘DadStrike’ on Wednesday 11th June, where fathers will form a “family-friendly picket line” at the Department of Business and Trade to call for more paternity leave.
Find out more about The Dad Shift’s activism by visiting dadstrike.com
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