Labour would double Paternity Leave & Pay if they are elected.Sounds good doesn’t it? Not for many small businesses though with some employees then out of action for 4 weeks in addition to their annual leave that year.

We also have the introduction of Shared Parental Leave this year for businesses to deal with – this complex set of rules gives greater freedom for dads to take more time off with their newly born or adopted child. And at the same time will place some additional administrative burden on employers.

As for increasing paternity pay – it may be a great election sound bite but not something we can see happening in reality – an increase in Statutory Paternity Pay would create inequality with Statutory Maternity and Statutory Adoption Pay rates which wouldn’t be popular!