We first ran a Paternity Leave questionnaire back in May 2003, when 200 people took the time to share their experiences.

On this page you can read a summary of the responses together with some of the more detailed comments we received from parents.

Almost exactly half of all dads took between 1-2 weeks leave when their partner gave birth. Of the remaininng 51%:

• 13% took no time off - being self employed and money pressures being the main reasons;
• 24% took less than 1 week off;
• 14% took 2-3 weeks off.

A lucky few where able to take several weeks off.

Of those who took between 1-2 weeks leave - 40% had paid paternity leave averaging out at about 5 days.

Of those taking the least time off - less than a week or no time at all, over three quarters were not able to take up any paid paternity leave at all.

Less than 10% of all the Companies who employ the fathers in this study offer any 'child friendly' policies!

Quotes

"even the day of the birth itself had to be taken as annual leave".

"They only offer the standard unpaid paternity leave and as we had twins I could not afford to lose the income."

The glimmers of hope are largely in the public sector:

"Workplace crèches/ flexihours/3 days paid carers leave per annum".

"All my leave was paid and I got 4 weeks extra due to birth complications."

There was a general feeling that "Why should fathers miss out?"

If you would like more details please contact the site at admin@forparentsbyparents.co.uk