<\/p>\n
Experts have criticised a \u201clost decade\u201d of progress on parental rights after Guardian research suggested that fewer than one in 60 public sector workers are sharing leave with their partners when they have a baby.<\/p>\n
Ten years after the introduction of shared parental leave in the UK, the policy\u2019s architects said it had failed to deliver on its promise of \u201cculture change<\/a>\u201d and called for bold measures necessary to allow more men \u2013 including middle- and lower-earners \u2013 to spend time with their babies.<\/p>\n New data obtained by the Guardian reveals that in the past five years just one in every 64 requests for parental leave in four of the UK\u2019s biggest public sector employers were for shared parental leave, which gives parents the right to split up to 52 weeks of leave, including up to 39 weeks of statutory shared parental pay.<\/p>\n Freedom of information requests made by the Guardian show that just 1.55% of parental leave requests made at those employers in the last five years were for shared parental leave (SPL).<\/p>\n From 274,755 requests for parental leave across NHS England, Scotland and Wales, HMRC, the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Work and Pensions between 2020 and 2025, just 4,264 were for SPL.<\/p>\n Former Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson<\/a>, who introduced the 2015 policy in the House of Commons when she was the minister for employment relations, said low take-up of shared parental leave in public bodies was \u201cdisappointing\u201d and blamed successive Tory governments.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a policy that hasn\u2019t achieved its potential, partly because it hasn\u2019t had the kind of the backing, the energy, the encouragement of a government that believed in it,\u201d said Swinson.<\/p>\n Campaigners and policy shapers have long argued that the shared parental leave policy is a failure, with a key study from the University of Bath last year finding the policy has \u201cfallen flat\u201d<\/a>. Since its introduction, neither the uptake nor the length of paternal leave taken has increased, said researchers. The last Conservative government\u2019s 2023 evaluation of SPL<\/a> found that only 1% of eligible mothers and 5% of eligible fathers used it.<\/p>\n <\/gu-island><\/p>\n A growing body of evidence also suggests that shared parental leave has become the preserve of higher earners concentrated in the south-east of England. Analysis of HMRC data by campaign group the Dad Shift, reveals that 95% of shared parental leave in 2024-25 was claimed by fathers in the UK\u2019s top half of earners<\/a>, those making more than the average salary of \u00a337,800 a year.<\/p>\n HMRC data<\/a> reveals a consistent decline in the share of SPL going to the bottom 50% of earners almost every year since it was created. While around one in 10 claims for shared parental leave were made by average- or low-paid dads in 2015, the figure is now closer to one in 20.<\/p>\n <\/gu-island><\/p>\n \u201cA lost decade on, it\u2019s clear shared parental leave is good for a handful of wealthier families in the south-east but just doesn\u2019t work for most working fathers and non-birthing parents,\u201d said George Gabriel, co-founder of the Dad Shift.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the past decade, who gets time with their new babies has become a clear class issue, with normal blokes priced out of those early weeks and months with their babies, despite a mountain of evidence showing that proper paternity leave is not just good for dads, but mums and babies too.\u201d<\/p>\n The government\u2019s launch of an 18-month review<\/a> of the UK\u2019s parental leave system in July was hailed as a \u201cwatershed moment<\/a>\u201d by the House of Commons women and equalities select committee, but MPs warned that \u201ctinkering around the edges of a broken system will let down working parents\u201d.<\/p>\n The minister for employment rights, Kate Dearden, acknowledged the current \u201cparental leave system needs improving\u201d and pointed to the review and to measures in the workers\u2019 rights bill that will make paternity leave a day-one right. \u201cNo parent should feel they cannot spend meaningful time with their children, and supporting them to do so is essential,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Swinson said a key problem with the current policy was the requirement for women to \u201cgive up\u201d some of their maternity leave, and a lack of ringfenced time for dads to spend with their children, and urged the government to implement \u201ctake it or leave it\u201d time off work for dads.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government has to be bold,\u201d she said. \u201cLet\u2019s not have an incremental tweak. Let\u2019s recognise that this hasn\u2019t moved for 10 years \u2013 we need a leap at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n