Wanna hear the one in regards to the low-paid dad who took paternity go away? | Maternity & paternity rights

[ad_1] Toe-curlingly unhealthy jokes (“I’m studying a guide about anti-gravity, it’s unimaginable to place down”) are usually not the protect of fathers, however as a demographic, dads are broadly recognised for his or her distinctive comedian abilities.

Which is why on Thursday, dozens of MPs, lots of them dad-joke specialists, will inform groan-worthy gags within the Home of Commons to focus on the “actual joke” of paternity go away within the UK.

MPs will learn out jokes collected from a contest organised by the paternity rights marketing campaign group the Dad Shift and the development neighborhood On the Instruments in a debate that takes place a day after Worldwide Males’s Day.

The message behind the tongue-in-cheek stunt is severe, mentioned George Gabriel, a co-founder of the Dad Shift. UK paternity go away, at £187.18 per week, is the least-generous in Europe, with the UK ranked fortieth out of 43 nations by the Organisation for Financial Cooperation and Growth. The statutory supply accounts for 1.9% of all authorities spending on parental go away, with the remainder spent on maternity go away. Self-employed co-parents don't qualify for state help.

Gabriel argued that low- and middle-earners have been being shut out of spending important time with their newborns. In accordance with the group’s evaluation of HMRC knowledge, launched to coincide with the talk, 90% of paternity go away in 2024-25 was claimed by fathers within the UK’s prime half of earners – those that usually make greater than £37,800 a 12 months – and 95% of claims for shared parental go away (SPL) have been made by fathers or companions within the prime half of earners.

“It’s clear that who can afford to spend time with their youngsters is changing into a category difficulty,” mentioned Gabriel. “A system that offers dads lower than half the minimal wage just isn't designed for use by working fathers and it’s outrageous that these folks are priced out of even the paltry two weeks provided by the UK. It’s a foul joke.”

A survey of two,000 individuals for Dadshift by Opinium discovered that 64% of fathers have been involved that the majority paternity go away was claimed by higher-than-average earners, whereas 58% agreed that the query of who may afford to spend time with their youngsters was changing into “a category difficulty”.

The typical wage within the UK is £37,800 a 12 months, and solely 9.5% of the 216,000 individuals who took paternity go away in 2024-25 earned lower than that, in accordance with the evaluation. It discovered that of twenty-two,700 SPL claims, 1,200 (about 5%) have been from the underside half of earners, with no claims created from dads and companions within the lowest 20% of earners.

In accordance with the marketing campaign group’s analysis, the figures additionally present “big geographic disparities”, with the south-east and London receiving as a lot in SPL funds as Scotland, Wales, Northern Eire, the north-west, the north-east and Yorkshire and the Humber mixed.

Alistair Strathern, the Labour MP for Hitchin, mentioned the variety of MPs prepared to face up and be laughed at was indicative of a shift in parliament, with extra fathers prepared to name for higher parental rights. He pointed to the federal government’s evaluate of parental go away, introduced in July and anticipated to take about 18 months, as proof his social gathering was listening to dads.

Strathern mentioned: “There’s been a heartening recognition from the frontbench in regards to the present inequities within the system, which just about hardwires a gendered method to parenting.

“Look, we’re clearly doing it at a time when there’s an enormous quantity of constraints, by way of the broader financial image and the fiscal image for the Treasury, however the recognition of the issue and the need to do one thing about it are there.”

The controversy, organised by Josh Newbury MP, a father of two, may also be attended by the Liberal Democrat MP Freddie Van Mierlo, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on fatherhood (favorite joke: I used to hate facial hair, then it grew on me), who mentioned: “I backed this debate as a result of we have to ship a message loud and clear: this isn’t ok and one thing must be executed.”