The UK has just passed a new policy that will expand the current paternity leave in the UK.
Disclaimer: I am a expat living in London.
Currently the maternity leave policy in the UK is as follows:
You are entitled to 52 weeks off with your job guaranteed. You are also entitled to a pension contribution while you are away and also accrue vacation days.
You are paid for the first six weeks at 90 per cent of your average gross weekly earnings with no upper limit.
For the remaining 33 weeks at the lower of either the standard rate of £124.88, or 90 per cent of your average gross weekly earnings.
This can vary on companies depending how generous your benefits plan is.
The current paternity leave policy is for two weeks.
Ordinary Statutory Paternity Pay is paid for up to two consecutive weeks, depending on how long you choose to take Ordinary Paternity Leave for. The current weekly rate is £124.88 (£128.73 from April 2011) or 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings, if that is less.
The policy change will allow fathers to take up 26 weeks if the mother decides to go back to work early. If the mother decides at the 20th week to return to work, it will allow the father to take the remaining time off. He would be entitled to the Paternity Pay of £124.88 (£128.73 from April 2011) or 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings, if that is less.
This policy in a short word is AWESOME! I am a working mom who just returned back to work after five months of maternity leave. I would have liked to stay home longer however I was needed back at work. I have returned part time (although really full time, I work from home two days a week).
Going back to work is a guilt ridden, stressful time. I love my baby and it kills me to leave him. I love my job as well and due to the nature of the job, needed to keep up at work.
Searching for appropriate childcare was very hard. It would have been great to be able to have my husband pitch in and have him stay home with our son for the first year of his life.
I think this policy only helps women. The only way we are going find true equality at work is if we start requiring dads to have a greater helping hand in raising our children. Both my husband and I have careers. Both of us need to now juggle our lives to take care of a child. I think it is beneficial that our son knows that Daddy is as capable of taking care of him as Mommy.
My husband often talks about how he misses our son when he is at work.
Not everyone in the UK is happy about the new policy. Small business owners have been complaining that this would hurt their business. I don't buy this argument. Most of the Scandinavian countries have super strong paternity/maternity and it seems to work for them.
I think this may cause equal discrimination against women and men of a certain age. I specifically stayed at my job because I was a married woman of a "certain age" and getting hired at another company would have been hard. Men will now understand what it means to be married without children. It puts a red flag on your resume.
Unfortunately these policies don't start until 2013 so I will not be able to benefit from them but I am happy that the UK has taken a step in the right step for other mom's and dad's.