Many employers not ready for Additional Paternity Leave
rules
According to new research, forty per cent of employers are not
geared up for new regulations relating to Additional Paternity
Leave (APL).
The research, carried out by the charity Working Families, found
that 60 per cent of employers had updated their policies to take
into account the roll out of APL, but 40 per cent had not done
so.
The new APL regulations will allow new fathers whose children
are born after 3 April 2011 to take up to six months of paternity
leave should they wish to. Currently, new fathers are only allowed
two weeks of paid paternity leave.
Nineteen per cent of the employers who had made the changes
planned to pay fathers taking the APL six weeks on full pay. Two in
three employers planned to pay only the statutory paternity pay -
£128.73 per week – during APL despite 65 per cent of those firms
offering enhanced maternity pay to women taking maternity
leave.
Working Families' chief executive, Sarah Jackson, said, “It is
surprising that 40 per cent of employers report that they are not
yet prepared for the change in the law.
“Many fathers don’t take ordinary paternity leave now because
they can’t afford to lose pay at a time when family costs increase.
Our research also shows that giving fathers greater control and
flexibility to improve their work–life balance improves their
loyalty and commitment to an organisation. Businesses that do right
by fathers will reap the benefits,” she added.