Call for reform on paternity leave rules

ACROSS Kent, tiny babygrows fluttered in the wind, strung up in eye-catching locations - from the lido sign in Margate to the White Cliffs of Dover - each display one spelling out a message: “Two weeks isn’t enough.”

- By CATHERINE LANGSTON

The visual protest, held earlier this month, was part of a co-ordinated national action led by The Dad Shift, a campaign group calling for urgent reform to the UK government's paternity leave policy, which they argue is outdated and actively harmful to new fathers and families.

In Kent alone, the symbolic babygrows popped up in Margate, Broadstairs, Blue Bell Hill, Knole House in Sevenoaks, and at the iconic White Cliffs. Parents in these towns came together to draw attention to a system they say fails fathers at a crucial time.

The UK offers the least generous statutory paternity leave in Europe - just two weeks off work, paid at a maximum of £187.18 per week, or 90 per cent of average earnings, whichever is lower.

That is less than half of minimum wage.