New Dads At Virgin Offered One Year Paternity Leave On Full Pay

For most new dads, paternity leave is over in the blink of an eye.
 
Since 2010, fathers have been entitled to just two weeks’ full pay after the birth or adoption of their child.

Labour had campaigned to double the period to a month during the recent election – but Richard Branson’s company Virgin has gone quite a bit further.

Employees at the group will soon be entitled up to a year on full pay to stay at home and care for newborns.
 
Those with less than two years’ service at the company are entitled to 25 per cent of the package, while those with more than four years’ service get the full 12 months.
 
Under current law, fathers have the right to take up to 26 weeks’ Additional Paternity Leave, but only if their partner has returned to work or stopped claiming.
 
While full details are yet to be released, Twitter users expressed their enthusiastic support for the policy.

Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group founder, said: “I believe if you take care of your employees they will take care of your business.
 
“As a father and now a proud granddad to three wonderful grandchildren, I know how magical the first year of a child’s life is but also how much hard work it takes.
 
“I’m delighted that we can offer this support to our staff so that they can enjoy parental leave to the full.”

But would men be happy to take a year off to raise their child? Katie Hopkins doesn’t seem to think so.

Taking a year off while still receiving your salary sounds like the dream, but a year is a long time to spend at home with a child to care for – and putting their career on hold is probably not something that every man would choose to do.

But it’s a fantastic option for new dads to have, nonetheless. A recent study revealed that half of Brits do think that childcare should be shared – some 56 per cent of men supported Nick Clegg’s pre-election campaign to enable all dads to take up to 50 weeks of paternity leave.

In a poll of 2,000 Britons conducted by the department of Business Innovation and Skills, 83 per cent of those who are thinking about becoming parents would consider taking Clegg up on his offer of shared parental leave. And 75 per cent of men who are already dads admitted they would have considered the option if it had been available when their child was born – compared to 63 per cent of mums.

Would you be happy to take a year’s paternity leave to raise your child? Let us know in the comments below.

[Parental Leave: Most Men Think Childcare Should Be Shared Between Parents]

[Katie Hopkins: Men Would Rather Boil Their Head In Breast Milk Than Take Paternity Leave]