Yup. Was working at an 80% female company. Got 2 weeks. Shared parental leave is nonsense too.
I got the same in my retail job. 2 weeks unpaid apart from statutory pay (£152 or something).
Which party has something good in their manifesto about this? I would definitely factor it into my vote. 2 weeks is miserable.
My company has increased this to a very good package, this is down to private companies changing. no chance the government mandate this
It hurts both parents to have a lack of paternity leave for new dads.
With our falling fertility rate the government needs to do more to support families. Something weird has happened when I look at that photo and I think that’s a big family. 3 children needs to be the norm not the exception. We have 2 but we were in a tiny property and weren’t able to move. Most families are just one or two children and it’s storing up a problem for the future.
This is why I stored up 2 weeks annual leave plus took an extra week unpaid – to top it up to 5 weeks.
To be brutally honest though – it was a bit of a relief to get back to work after that as my mind was turning to mush.
My husband took two weeks paternity (stat pay) and 2 weeks holiday and my god did I need him. I had a straight forward birth etc but he was so needed that entire month physically, emotionally and every other way. Two weeks is not enough and leave should be fully paid.
My little boy was born two months premature during the first lockdown. My contract said I should only have been entitled to two weeks off regardless, but furlough saved me from having to choose between my job and being there for my wife and son. I can’t imagine how I would have coped with working full-time and then going to the hospital to be with them.
My boss even got me in his office and said, “I assume you won’t be taking the full two weeks? You’ll get fed up with family there anyway”
I took the full two weeks and he was noticeably arsey with me on the first day back. “Enjoy your sabbatical?”
Meh. I was in my first six months of my job when I became a dad, so I was entitled to a whopping great zero days of paternity leave.
Depends on the person. 2 weeks sitting on the sofa with the little ones on my belly sleeping was great but was nice to go back to reality.
I missed the entitlement to any paternity leave by 1 week, so had to use annual and unpaid leave. Unfortunately most of the time was spent in the hospital due to an antenatally diagnosed heart condition that was worse than expected.
Work were so kind in changing 2 of my 10 days unpaid into paid leave.
“New fathers are the anti-growth coalition!”
Liz Trunt, 2022
It always comes back to how we measure people only by their economic output and nothing else, mums and dads alike. Society will say children are the future but do nothing to make it easier for parents to spend time with them, work is considered too important and quality bonding time is sidelined as a result. Paternity leave won’t get better until that attitude changes.
I don’t understand how employers are allowed to give enhanced maternity pay and only the legal minimum paternity pay. How is that not gender discrimination?
When our first was born I got two weeks paternity leave which work bumped up to my full pay which was good of them as they didn’t have to do it. I topped it up with two weeks holiday so i could spend the first month at home.
Statutory paternity leave in this country is pathetic. It feels like they knew they had to give the blokes some time off so made a token gesture and expected people to be grateful.
Some companies do offer much better paternity leave. A friend of mine had a baby not so long ago and her husbands company gave him six months off with full pay that he can take at any time in the baby’s first two years.
My job offers me (potential future dad) 16 weeks full pay and as a result they’ve got me as a loyal employee for the foreseeable future.
2 weeks is insane. In what universe is that reasonable?
Best thing you can do :
Get a wfh job and a mouse jiggler.
I enjoy seeing conservatives get het up about the decline of the nuclear family, then making it bloody difficult for people to start them.
My employer (a big international engineering company) only started offering 2 weeks full pay paternity leave around 2019. Before that it was just statutory.
I work for HMRC and just had a little one, I’ve had 4 weeks off which was much needed!
Another side note from this is basically how us new dads are expected to be completely fine after this and be able to work as normal.
I’m a teacher, and after both of my children’s births, my boss had me in about my performance. No issues beforehand, but suddenly now I was getting a lack of sleep, my wife struggling after tricky births, and being a new dad and my boss thought the best thing was to hit me with improvement plans.
New dads are treated like a joke in this country.
Thank god for WFH, I would have missed so much of my firstborns first months.
If a lesbian couple has a kid can they both take maternity leave?
Important to note you do not qualify for statutory paternity leave/pay if you have worked less than 6 month by the 15th week before the due date. I’m learning this now and will need to take holidays and unpaid leave to support my family, but not everyone can afford that.
Men didn’t get any paternity leave till about five minutes ago – be grateful for what you’ve got!
In my last place dads got one week paternity pay and the second week they could either use annual leave or have it unpaid.
Considering it takes six weeks to recover from a c-section, this should be extended!
I had an emergency section and luckily, the babe arrived the first day of the summer holidays and my husband is a teacher. Having him home for the six weeks was a lifesaver and I had a smooth recovery!
This is why I won’t leave my current job, after 2 years service it’s 26 weeks full pay. Used 2 weeks up front plus some annual leave and then using 24 weeks from January once my wife goes back part time.
My company gave me a bonus 2 days at full pay on top of my 2 weeks…. Go me.
I thought equal leave for both parents was the law now? Never worked anywhere where that wasn’t the case.. It’s 6 months on full pay at my current place.
2 weeks? Ha. I got one week and had to book a week of time off.
Yup.
I got 2 weeks and had to use my holiday days up whilst the maternity team were attempting to induce my poor wife.
She ended up having a c-section so a very frantic 2 weeks for me followed and I had no holiday left so had to go back to work when I really didn’t want to leave her.
34 comments
Yup. Was working at an 80% female company. Got 2 weeks. Shared parental leave is nonsense too.
I got the same in my retail job. 2 weeks unpaid apart from statutory pay (£152 or something).
Which party has something good in their manifesto about this? I would definitely factor it into my vote. 2 weeks is miserable.
My company has increased this to a very good package, this is down to private companies changing. no chance the government mandate this
It hurts both parents to have a lack of paternity leave for new dads.
With our falling fertility rate the government needs to do more to support families. Something weird has happened when I look at that photo and I think that’s a big family. 3 children needs to be the norm not the exception. We have 2 but we were in a tiny property and weren’t able to move. Most families are just one or two children and it’s storing up a problem for the future.
This is why I stored up 2 weeks annual leave plus took an extra week unpaid – to top it up to 5 weeks.
To be brutally honest though – it was a bit of a relief to get back to work after that as my mind was turning to mush.
My husband took two weeks paternity (stat pay) and 2 weeks holiday and my god did I need him. I had a straight forward birth etc but he was so needed that entire month physically, emotionally and every other way. Two weeks is not enough and leave should be fully paid.
My little boy was born two months premature during the first lockdown. My contract said I should only have been entitled to two weeks off regardless, but furlough saved me from having to choose between my job and being there for my wife and son. I can’t imagine how I would have coped with working full-time and then going to the hospital to be with them.
My boss even got me in his office and said, “I assume you won’t be taking the full two weeks? You’ll get fed up with family there anyway”
I took the full two weeks and he was noticeably arsey with me on the first day back. “Enjoy your sabbatical?”
Meh. I was in my first six months of my job when I became a dad, so I was entitled to a whopping great zero days of paternity leave.
Depends on the person. 2 weeks sitting on the sofa with the little ones on my belly sleeping was great but was nice to go back to reality.
I missed the entitlement to any paternity leave by 1 week, so had to use annual and unpaid leave. Unfortunately most of the time was spent in the hospital due to an antenatally diagnosed heart condition that was worse than expected.
Work were so kind in changing 2 of my 10 days unpaid into paid leave.
“New fathers are the anti-growth coalition!”
Liz Trunt, 2022
It always comes back to how we measure people only by their economic output and nothing else, mums and dads alike. Society will say children are the future but do nothing to make it easier for parents to spend time with them, work is considered too important and quality bonding time is sidelined as a result. Paternity leave won’t get better until that attitude changes.
I don’t understand how employers are allowed to give enhanced maternity pay and only the legal minimum paternity pay. How is that not gender discrimination?
When our first was born I got two weeks paternity leave which work bumped up to my full pay which was good of them as they didn’t have to do it. I topped it up with two weeks holiday so i could spend the first month at home.
Statutory paternity leave in this country is pathetic. It feels like they knew they had to give the blokes some time off so made a token gesture and expected people to be grateful.
Some companies do offer much better paternity leave. A friend of mine had a baby not so long ago and her husbands company gave him six months off with full pay that he can take at any time in the baby’s first two years.
My job offers me (potential future dad) 16 weeks full pay and as a result they’ve got me as a loyal employee for the foreseeable future.
2 weeks is insane. In what universe is that reasonable?
Best thing you can do :
Get a wfh job and a mouse jiggler.
I enjoy seeing conservatives get het up about the decline of the nuclear family, then making it bloody difficult for people to start them.
My employer (a big international engineering company) only started offering 2 weeks full pay paternity leave around 2019. Before that it was just statutory.
I work for HMRC and just had a little one, I’ve had 4 weeks off which was much needed!
Another side note from this is basically how us new dads are expected to be completely fine after this and be able to work as normal.
I’m a teacher, and after both of my children’s births, my boss had me in about my performance. No issues beforehand, but suddenly now I was getting a lack of sleep, my wife struggling after tricky births, and being a new dad and my boss thought the best thing was to hit me with improvement plans.
New dads are treated like a joke in this country.
Thank god for WFH, I would have missed so much of my firstborns first months.
If a lesbian couple has a kid can they both take maternity leave?
Important to note you do not qualify for statutory paternity leave/pay if you have worked less than 6 month by the 15th week before the due date. I’m learning this now and will need to take holidays and unpaid leave to support my family, but not everyone can afford that.
Men didn’t get any paternity leave till about five minutes ago – be grateful for what you’ve got!
In my last place dads got one week paternity pay and the second week they could either use annual leave or have it unpaid.
Considering it takes six weeks to recover from a c-section, this should be extended!
I had an emergency section and luckily, the babe arrived the first day of the summer holidays and my husband is a teacher. Having him home for the six weeks was a lifesaver and I had a smooth recovery!
This is why I won’t leave my current job, after 2 years service it’s 26 weeks full pay. Used 2 weeks up front plus some annual leave and then using 24 weeks from January once my wife goes back part time.
My company gave me a bonus 2 days at full pay on top of my 2 weeks…. Go me.
I thought equal leave for both parents was the law now? Never worked anywhere where that wasn’t the case.. It’s 6 months on full pay at my current place.
2 weeks? Ha. I got one week and had to book a week of time off.
Yup.
I got 2 weeks and had to use my holiday days up whilst the maternity team were attempting to induce my poor wife.
She ended up having a c-section so a very frantic 2 weeks for me followed and I had no holiday left so had to go back to work when I really didn’t want to leave her.
Piss-poor.