Dad Shift spell out their call for paternity leave

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

- By CATHERINE LANGSTON

The visual protest was part of a coordinated national action led by The Dad Shift, a campaign group calling for urgent reform to the UK’s paternity leave policy, which they argue is outdated and actively harmful to new fathers and families.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.

Alex Lloyd Hunter, co-founder of The Dad Shift, said: “The UK’s rubbish paternity leave is trashing dads’ mental health.