"Freedom of information requests made by the Guardian show that just 1.55% of parental leave requests made at those employers in the last five years were for shared parental leave (SPL). From 274,755 requests for parental leave across NHS England, Scotland and Wales, HMRC, the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Work and Pensions between 2020 and 2025, just 4,264 were for SPL."
"Former Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson, who introduced the 2015 policy in the House of Commons when she was the minister for employment relations, said low take-up of shared parental leave in public bodies was disappointing and blamed successive Tory governments. It's definitely a policy that hasn't achieved its potential, partly because it hasn't had the kind of the backing, the energy, the encouragement of a government that believed in it, said Swinson."
Freedom of information data across major UK public employers shows only 1.55% of parental leave requests in the past five years were for shared parental leave (SPL). Of 274,755 parental leave requests between 2020 and 2025 across NHS England, Scotland and Wales, HMRC, the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Work and Pensions, just 4,264 were for SPL. SPL allows parents to split up to 52 weeks of leave, including up to 39 weeks of statutory shared parental pay. Policy architects judged the policy failed to deliver culture change and urged bold measures to enable more men, including middle- and lower-earners, to spend time with their babies. A University of Bath study found no increase in paternal leave uptake or length since introduction.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]