New fathers would be able to spend a month off work with their babies under a proposal by the Minister for Children to double the length of paternity leave.

Beverley Hughes will say in a speech in Manchester today that research has found that the majority of fathers want more time at home and the Government must do more to help families in the crucial first weeks of a child’s life.

Labour introduced two weeks of paid paternity leave in 2003 and more than 90 per cent of new fathers now take at least one week off.

Ministers are considering how they could improve matters for new fathers. Ms Hughes is the first to set out publicly what she thinks the Government should do next. Doubling paid paternity leave to one month would cost the Government about £43 million.

Gordon Brown, the prime minister-in-waiting and the father of two young sons, is known to favour helping fathers to spend more time with their children. He has been persuaded by research showing that the more involved the father, the better a child does at school.

Small business leaders immediately condemned the proposals, saying that companies could barely cope with existing rules.

“Our members believe working arrangements are a matter for employees and employers to agree between themselves and many already do let staff take longer than two weeks’ paternity leave,” said Matthew Knowles, a spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses.

“When the Government gets involved it just means inflexibility and mountains of paperwork and small companies already spend an average of 28 hours a week filling in forms. We don’t say paternity leave should not be increased, but leave it up to the employers and employees to sort out.”

But Ms Hughes said companies were being too slow to let new fathers take more time off. “Things are changing for women at work but fathers who want to work flexibly and play an active role in their child’s life are not being encouraged and valued by enough of their employers. This has to change,” she will say today.

“Fathers are saying loud and clear that they want to be able to spend more time with their children. Introducing statutory paid paternity leave for the first time ever in Britain has made a real difference for parents and their babies. But we must go further. Doubling the length of paternity leave, and paying it at a higher rate, will help thousands of dads from all backgrounds to be there for their children in those crucial early weeks.”

She will say that farsighted employers already recognise that flexible work for parents helps them to hold on to their staff, and others should follow their example.

Ben Busfield, the father of a week-old baby, Ruby, said that he would love more time off. “It feels like we just got back from the hospital and already I am halfway through my paternity leave,” he said.

The assistant production editor, who lives in Epping, Essex, with his wife, Kerry, added: “It is such a precious time. We are just learning to look after her at the moment, how to bath and change her, and I feel I have a lot more to learn. I can’t believe that in a week’s time Kerry will be looking after Ruby on her own.”

Father figures

— Statutory paternity leave pay is £108 a week. Extending it to a month would cost the Government about £43 million

— 25 per cent of new fathers take a week off, 40 per cent two weeks and 33 per cent take more

— 20 per cent take the leave as holiday to stay on full salary, 50 per cent take the time as paternity leave and 30 per cent as a combination of the two

— In Sweden, couples get 16 months of parental leave for each child, including ten weeks set aside for the father. For the first 13 months they are on 80 per cent of full pay

Source: Institute for Public Policy Research

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