Call for paternity leave increase to 4 weeks

● Minister asks for entitlement to be doubled as business leaders urge caution

Scots fathers should be entitled to four weeks paternity leave from work – double to current entitlement, a Scottish Government minister has said.

It came as MSPS yesterday hit out at the presumption that women are “primarily responsible” for raising children. Scotland trails behind other European nations like Slovenia, Sweden, Finland and Norway which all offer between ten and 12 weeks of paternity leave.

Insurance giant Aviva already offers 52 weeks leave, including 26 weeks fully paid, for all new parents. Nationalist MSP Fulton Mcgregor called on Scots’ employers to take a lead on the issue and offer a better deal for fathers.

“Just now in the UK and Scotland fathers get up to two weeks that the dad can take from the birth of the child,” he told MSPS in a Holyrood debate yesterday.

“Some employers, including the Scottish Government, offer a bit more, up to four weeks but the general standard is two weeks.

“This lack of support and recognition for fathers – which is historical – only reflects and reinforces cultural assumptions about traditional gender roles where the father is the breadwinner and the mother is the primary carer.

“As parliamentarians, we have a duty to challenge that head on.”

Employment minister Jamie Herpburn said the Scottish Government is seeking to “lead by example” with its policy of four week paternity leave.

“I do think think others should follow,” he said.

He commended North Lanarkshire Council for introducing four weeks paternity cover, but added: “There are others out there too and we need to see more public bodies follow suit

“But can’t just be down to the public sector, we also need the private sector to be involved in this agenda as well.”

Colin Borland of the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland said it backed the introduction of shared parental leave aimed at encouraging more men to take more time off when they became dads.

He said: “Given this was a relatively recent change, on which the jury is still out, we should measure its success and consider how it can be made to work more effectively.

“Obviously, smaller organisations have different challenges to the public sector and large companies when managing without key team members. Any new initiative in this area would need to accept this key fact.”