Fathers to get six months of paternity leave [View All]

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They will have a legal right to take the place of the mother at home for the last three months of her nine-month maternity break.

Fathers would be eligible during that three-month paternity leave to statutory government pay of £123 a week.

They would then be allowed to take an additional unpaid three months off, in effect providing families with 12 months of parental leave.

Ministers believe the measure would allow mothers who earn more than their partners to return to work earlier than would otherwise have been possible. Government data has shown that about 350,000 working mothers give birth every year. Two thirds return to work.

The announcement represents a victory for Harriet Harman, the Equalities Minister, who has championed the cause in a Cabinet battle with Lord Mandelson. He wanted businesses to be spared the extra administrative and financial burden.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7087735/Fathers-to-get-six-months-of-paternity-leave.html