Only 1 per cent of men act on Shared Parental Leave policy
Collective studies from My Family Care and the Women’s Business Council have found that just 1 per cent of men have taken advantage of the Government’s Shared Parental Leave (SPL) policy.
The policy, which allows couples to share their parental leave from work, was launched precisely one year ago today, in a bid to split leave between mothers and fathers and ensure mothers took less time off work for maternity.
However, a recent study of 1,000 parents and some 200 businesses across Britain has revealed that 55 per cent of women simply did not want to share leave with their partners, whereas 50 per cent of men believed that taking more time off work would be frowned upon by their bosses.
In fact, just 1% of fathers were found to have taken advantage of the SLP policy since its introduction in April 2015.
The studies found that financial considerations, an unwillingness by women to share their leave, and a simple lack of awareness ranked amongst the main reasons the policy had seen such a limited uptake.
However, research into future trends suggested that things may very well be looking up for SLP, as 63 per cent of men questioned said that they would consider SPL in the event of their spouses having a second child.
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