Paternity pay plea for dads

to celebrate equal pay Day, angela Crawley Mp has called on the uk government to extend paternity leave for fathers.

a recent report by the uk House of Commons Women and equalities Committee argued that poor paternity pay and leave can force new fathers to go back to work while pushing mothers to stay at home for longer, undermining the drive for gender equality.

angela said:“despite the equal pay act in 1970, women still earn less than men in Britain today.

“the current gender pay gap means women effectively stop earning relative to men on a day in november. that is unacceptable.

“there are a number of measures that the government could take to close the pay-gap and, as thewomen and equalities Committee report highlighted, one of the most pressing areas of underperforming government policy is shared parental leave.

“Despite it being one of the government’s flagship policies in 2015, the take up rate has only been around 3 per cent.

“the tories want fathers to be more involved in, and take on more responsibility for, care of their children and it wants workplaces to support them to do this – yet it is clear their policy is failing.

“so on this year’s equal pay Day, I am calling on the uk government to back fair leave for fathers and double the amount of paternity leave from two to four weeks.”