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Tue 15th May 2007
Paternity leave consultation begins

The government has released details of its planned overhaul of paternity leave, which will be beneficial to fathers wishing to take off time previously allocated to the mother.

Under the terms of the new proposals, employment relations minister Jim Fitzpatrick explained on May 14th that if a mother chooses not to take off all of the maternity afforded her then the father of the newborn will be entitled to these days off.

A consultation period has therefore been initiated by the government for plans that also include branching out the term father to include both partners and civil partners as well as adopting couples.

Allied to this, fathers will be able to take as much as 26 weeks paternity leave, should they meet certain criteria.

Mr Fitzpatrick said: "We know that people want greater flexibility to better juggle their work and family life and that fathers increasingly want to play a bigger part in the upbringing of their children."

A study undertaken last year by CIPD/KPMG discovered that employers are not so keen on the proposals with 64 per cent claiming that the law change would cause them significant or some problems.