Opinion: stop financially penalising dads for taking parental leave

A new report shows that fathers want more time with their families, but Felicity Hannah has been looking at how money matters stop them.

If a father takes shared parental leave, he is not guaranteed the same enhanced conditions that a mother at the same company would be offered.

Many employers offer women a maternity leave package that goes above and beyond the statutory minimum, yet new research shows most do not offer that same package to fathers who take shared parental leave.

That’s clearly wrong – both for dads who want to do their fair share of care, and for mums who want to return to work but find their household can’t afford for one parent to be on the basic statutory pay.

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Different treatment

Campaign group Maternity Action explains: “If your employer offers contractual maternity pay that is better than the statutory minimum, they do not have to offer contractual shared parental pay.

“This is because special treatment can be justified for the health and safety of mother and baby following childbirth and, in some sectors, employers may be justified in offering enhanced maternity provisions in order to attract female workers in a male-dominated workplace.”

Employers can’t discriminate by offering ‘shared parental pay’ at an enhanced rate for women but the statutory rate for men, however, it’s legally fine to pay maternity pay at a higher rate than shared parental pay.

I think that’s wrong, and bad for dads, mums and children.

What’s more, such special treatment risks making the motherhood pay penalty even more entrenched because it doesn’t level the playing field for workers.

Here’s why.

The motherhood pay penalty

I often write about the motherhood pay penalty – and with good reason.

Research from the TUC shows that, by the time they reach 43, mothers who are in full-time work earn 11% less than full-time working women who have no children.

Having kids can really mess up your finances for the long term, as well as the initial expense of those early years.

But it’s important to recognise that dads are trapped too by our current system, and that they also often face a financial penalty – one that prevents them from being able to spend time with their children while they’re little.

A report published this week showed that more than half of millennial fathers want to move to a less stressful job and just under half would take a pay cut if it meant they could have a better work/life balance.

The 2017 Modern Families Index revealed that one-fifth of fathers reported that their employer lacked sympathy about childcare issues and that 44% had been forced to lie to their boss about family responsibilities that might “get in the way” of work.

We take action to protect mothers from this kind of difficulty (although there is a long way to go) and it’s essential that fathers don’t get left behind.

In fact, only when both parents have the same rights can we expect that women will escape the massive financial penalty that so often comes with motherhood.

Sarah Jackson, chief executive of the charity Working Families, says: “A game-changing first step would be Government creating a new, properly paid, extended period of paternity leave – sending a clear signal that Government recognises the aspirations of modern fathers and is serious about tackling the motherhood penalty that blights the working lives of so many women.”

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Dads actually get a bonus

Men, by and large, escape the lasting financial scars that affect mothers.

In fact, they often experience the opposite; research from the IPPR for the TUC shows that full-time fathers out-earn their childless counterparts by more than a fifth, with a 21% ‘wage bonus’.

And it gets better the more children they have; the survey showed that fathers in Britain with two children earn 9% more than those with just one.

However, that financial success for dads comes at a cost – full-time working men with dependent children worked an average of half an hour longer each week than those without.

"It says much about current attitudes that men with children are seen as more committed by employers, while mothers are still often treated as liabilities," said TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady.

However, by denying dads the same enhanced leave as mothers we prevent fathers from spending time with their young families and make it harder for mothers to return to work.

Shared parental leave

Statutory pay on shared parental leave does not really compare to a professional salary; it’s currently either £139.58 a week or 90% of their average weekly earnings (whichever is lower).

Research from worker data firm XpertHR Benchmarking shows that one employer in four either already enhances shared parental pay above the minimum or plans to over the next 12 months.

However, more than double that number currently offer enhanced maternity pay.

This is inevitably going to lead to fewer fathers being able to take shared parental leave as it is more likely to be more affordable for the mother alone to take the time with the baby.

Take-up of shared parental leave is low, yet employers that enhance shared parental pay are twice as likely to receive shared parental leave requests as those that offer the statutory rate, according to the XpertHR Benchmarking research.

This dad discrimination stops fathers from spending time with their children and prevents mothers from returning to work and progressing their careers. Everyone loses.

And it’s not just dads, of course. This is an issue that affects mothers in same-sex relationships whose partners have given birth.

It’s discrimination that hurts parents and affects families, not to mention their financial security by either making them take a financial hit when they have just had a baby, or accepting the potential damage to the mother’s future earning potential.

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All parents in it together

Until more is done to ensure that parents can both spend time raising children and that employers work flexibly around mothers and fathers then we will see women penalised for motherhood and men prevented from being the fathers they want to be.

Women should not be forced out of jobs or prevented from gaining promotion when they have children.

Men should not be financially penalised for taking time to be with their children.

Both of those issues can only be resolved at the same time and through positive pro-parent action that enables everyone to balance their home- and work-life more effectively.

No one wins in the current situation.

What do you think? How could we make the current system fairer? Have your say using the comments below.

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