MP Says His Paternity Leave Was “Not Enough” And Calls For Reform

In October, a group of fathers and campaign groups visited Parliament to call on the Government to improve the UK’s paternity provisions (Alamy)

5 min read21 min

Jon Pearce, who was elected as the Labour MP for High Peak in July, has just returned to Parliament after three weeks of paternity leave.

The 47-year-old MP’s baby was born at the end of October via a caesarean section – “I’m extremely grateful to Rishi Sunak for calling the election in July!” – and Pearce was then one of the only male MPs to have ever taken more than the statutory paternity leave of two weeks.

While he was on leave, he was entitled to a proxy vote in Parliament and his staff were still working to respond to constituents. Pearce also carried out some local commitments such as Remembrance Sunday, admitting it was “difficult to switch off”.

Although Pearce said there had been a “positive culture shift” which had allowed him to take this time, he told PoliticsHome that three weeks “still wasn’t enough to actually bed down the family, build the relationship, and get the structures in place that you need for looking after a new small person in the world”.

Pearce’s wife is a doctor and the couple have two other children, aged seven and three. Having shared childcare responsibilities with his wife after the births of his first two children, he said the juggling they were now having to do was having an “impact” on his family: “My oldest is definitely missing me now not being around.”

He added that having to split his time between London and Derbyshire made it particularly challenging: “When I go back [to the constituency] tonight, I’ll be like ‘Where are the whites? Where are we keeping the nappies? Are they having the bottle?’

“I’m constantly asking my wife questions to try and play catch up… and that just embeds my wife in that role and I’m the sous chef. We have to change that if we are going to fundamentally change the inequality.”

He said that falling into this pattern at home in the first few weeks of a baby’s life can make dads feel like a “spare part”, a feeling that “can grow over time”: “We do need a culture change in terms of what is the role of dads.”

Polling suggests the public supports the idea that fathers should be actively involved in childcare.

A More in Common survey conducted in November for Dad Shift and Movember found that when presented with an either-or choice, respondents were much more likely to say a good father is actively involved in childcare as well as providing for and protecting his family, rather than that a good father concentrates on providing financially for and protecting his family.

Lib Dem voters were the most likely to agree – 87 per cent – while Labour and Reform voters were least likely to agree at 76 per cent, according to findings shared with PoliticsHome.

Pearce said the statutory entitlement of two weeks of paternity leave was “definitely not enough”. The UK’s paternity provisions are the least generous in Europe.

“We have to be moving in the direction of other European countries,” he said.

“We’re so far behind the Scandinavian countries. Unless we start supporting dads and families more, then we’re going to continue to have issues, we’re not going to close that gender pay gap.”

Before becoming an MP, Pearce worked as an employment lawyer. He told PoliticsHome that shared parental leave was another policy which “just hasn’t worked”.

Shared parental leave is a state-funded scheme that allows parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay after the birth or adoption of a child. However, research by the Dad Shift campaign has shown that less than 2 per cent of new fathers have benefitted from this scheme since it was introduced 10 years ago, with the top 20 per cent of earners making up 60 per cent of those who have used it. Only 5 per cent of users came from the bottom 50 per cent of earners.

“It’s complex, and the mother has to effectively give up being on maternity leave to move on to shared parental leave,” Pearce said.

“It’s off-putting for businesses, and it’s not surprising that only about 2 per cent of dads actually use it. It massively needs reform if we’re going to improve the uptake.”

Campaigns such as Movember have also sought to highlight the mental health issues experienced by fathers. Around 1 in 10 fathers experience postnatal depression after the birth of a child.

According to the Dad Shift and Movember polling, all voters regardless of political party ranked being able to share quality time with their children as more important for the mental health of fathers than being able to protect and provide financial comfort. Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters were most likely to agree with this statement.

“Tragically, dads have been the forgotten part,” Pearce said.

“The expectation is that you have two weeks of leave and then you go straight back to work as if nothing has happened. And many dads feel huge amounts of guilt.

“I’m feeling huge amounts of guilt at the moment that I’m here and I’m not there, and all I’m getting is photos, video calls and that guilt can nag away at dads. It’s such a massive life change… and so how we support dads and give them better protections is going to be vital to improving their mental health.”

George Gabriel, co-founder of the Dad Shift, said: “The UK’s paternity leave offer, at just two weeks on less than half the minimum wage and with nothing for self-employed dads, is the worst in Europe and in dire need of improvement.

“It’s fantastic [Jon] is speaking out about the need for society to do more to enable every dad and co-parent in the country to do the same. It’s clear from this polling that social attitudes have changed across every party affiliation — the British public believes dads play an important role and it’s past time that policy caught up.”

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