Just 0.6% of parents use Clegg law to share leave

LESS than 1 per cent of eligible parents took advantage of Nick Clegg’s shared parental leave system in the past year, a study has found.

Shared Parental Leave was introduced by the coalition government in 2015 following pressure from the then deputy prime minister.

It was intended to encourage more fathers to take paid leave, allowing mothers to return to work.

There were 661,000 babies born to working women in 2016-17, meaning roughly the same number of fathers were also eligible.

But just 8,700 new parents – or 0.6 per cent – shared up to 50 weeks off between them, according to a study by law firm EMW.

It said the cultural stigma of men taking a lengthy break from work was probably the reason that it was being ‘significantly underused’.

EMW principal Jon Taylor said: ‘Demand for the shared parental leave system remains very low and families could be missing out by not embracing the system.

‘Many new parents are unclear how the system will work for their families and careers. Fathers in particular could be concerned about coming across as less committed to their job if they ask for greater flexibility, deterring them from looking into it.’

The scheme – which pays a couple either £139.50 a week or 90 per cent of weekly earnings of the person taking leave, whichever is lower – has struggled to attract people since its launch.

Just 3,000 made use of it between January and March last year under figures previously released under Freedom of Information rules.

In the same period for 2013-2014, 155,000 mothers took state paternity leave and 52,000 took paternity leave.

Supporters of stay-at-home mothers have complained it uses taxpayers’ money to drive women out to work, while academic surveys have shown that new mothers prefer to stay at home to look after their babies rather than let their husband or partner take over.

Mr Taylor added that employers needed to take a ‘pro-active approach towards leave for new parents’ if the take-up was to improve.

He said: ‘If an employer is seen as sympathetic to the needs of new parents they are more likely to enjoy retention of staff.’

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: ‘The policy was only introduced in 2015 and we cannot expect to see a culture change overnight, but clearly we want more families to take advantage of the extra flexibility this scheme provides.’