To create greater equality we need more men holding the babies

Sector needs to do more

Towards the end of 2021, NOW: Pensions and the Diversity Project published joint research to shine a spotlight on the extremely low take-up of paternity leave in the UK.

The research focused solely on the asset management industry, but the findings were stark - less than 12% of fathers have taken extended paternity leave, beyond the statutory two weeks. We are therefore calling on the financial services industry to do more to come up with parental leave policies that work for both parents. That is, not defaulting to shared parental leave where the parents need to decide how much of the year's 52 weeks they each take, but instead to equalise the paternity leave offering to that of maternity.  What are the rules?  Maternity leave is subsidised by t...