This petition was submitted during the 2017–2019 Conservative government

Rejected petition Increase the amount of weeks of paid paternity leave for men!

Women in the UK are entitled to paid maternity leave for 52 weeks (optional but legally 2 weeks MUST be taken off after the birth), whereas men are entitled to 1-2 weeks of paid paternity leave. In 2018, men and women are meant to be equal, so why can’t a father have longer to bond with his baby?

More details

Increasing paid paternity leave, even to 4 or 6 weeks, means fathers have time to bond with their baby, and reduces stress on mothers who are likely in need of support from their partners. Paid paternity leave increase allows:
•More bonding time with their baby (minus the worry of financial strain)
•Emotional/physical help for the mother from the father
Increase in paternity leave is already available in other countries (Japan= year, Mongolia =14 weeks to name a few) so let’s increase it too!

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.

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https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/225340

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