Self-employed dads finally get paternity pay. But two weeks on low pay won’t fix Britain’s broken system

When it comes to parental leave and pay rights, change can’t come soon enough. Currently, dads in the UK are entitled to just two weeks of statutory paternity leave. Until today, self- employed dads weren’t entitled to any paid leave at all, leaving mums to manage the demands of newborn care entirely on their own.

As of this week, self-employed fathers in the UK will receive paternity pay for the very first time. The catch? They are going to get a maximum of £194 a week - for those working full-time - for two weeks only.

There’s no disputing that it is progress. However, whether it’s enough to facilitate real change is another matter. Scrolling through the comments under prime minister Andy Burnham’s announcement on LinkedIn revealed one of the fundamental reasons why Britain is so far behind when it comes to parental pay.

“This is a ‘nice’ policy, but how will we pay for it?” asked one commenter.

Supporting new parents isn’t simply a ‘nice’ policy. It’s a question of what kind of society we want to build and how we choose to spend public money.

The evidence shows that enabling fathers and partners to spend time with their children during the first year of life can improve mothers’ mental and physical health, as well as children’s educational outcomes. Fathers should be able to bond with their children during those crucial early weeks and months without worrying about whether they can still afford rent and food.

Nor does the argument that adequate paternity leave necessarily harms employers stand up to scrutiny. A 2023 qualitative study suggests that giving fathers their own protected, paid leave could benefit their mental health, with potential knock-on benefits for workplace morale, job satisfaction and employee loyalty.

When fathers have the time and financial security to take on a greater share of childcare, mothers are better able to maintain their careers and pursue opportunities at work. The consequences of unequal caring responsibilities are stark: according to a survey of 2,000 parents by charity Parenting Out Loud, one in eight mothers have left paid work since becoming a parent, while more than half said their careers had been negatively affected, through reduced hours or responsibilities. The motherhood penalty is also estimated to account for 80% of the gender pay gap, underlining how much is at stake when caring responsibilities fall disproportionately on women.

The benefits extend beyond individual families, too. Better paternity leave can deliver significant economic gains by helping more women remain in and return to paid work. Modelling for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, carried out with the Centre for Progressive Policy, estimates that extending statutory paternity leave to six weeks, paid at 90% of a father’s average weekly earnings, could deliver £2.68 billion to the wider economy by enabling more women to work.

There is a crucial caveat, however. These benefits cannot be fully realised if self-employed fathers are left behind. If the UK is serious about supporting families, narrowing the gender pay gap and improving economic participation, paternity pay must be accessible to all dads. At the moment, only larger companies are financially able – or willing – to offer enhanced parental leave policies, a two-tier system is emerging. Employees at big firms may benefit from better-paid leave, while those working for smaller employers, or who are self-employed, are left with limited support.

So what needs to change?

At just two weeks, with statutory pay set at a very low level, the UK has the worst paternity leave entitlement in Europe. Both statutory maternity pay, aimed at employed women, and maternity allowance for those who are self-employed, are worth less than half of the weekly national living wage. 

Comparatively, other countries have taken a bolder, more joined-up approach that combines adequately-paid parental leave, affordable childcare and workplace cultures where flexibility is standard. They recognise that it isn’t a ‘women’s issue’ but rather a social and economic one.

Use it or lose it 

International evidence shows that if we want fathers to take on more caregiving responsibilities, they need their own dedicated leave paid at a level that makes it financially feasible. This non-transferable paternity leave, known as ‘use it or lose it’ for dads, actively shifts cultural norms rather than leaving mothers to absorb the career cost.

In 2022, Finland overhauled its parental leave system, giving each parent an equal share: 160 days of paid leave to be used before the child’s second birthday. Since then, the number of fathers taking paternity leave has nearly doubled.

Between 2017 and 2021, Spain equalised paternity leave with maternity leave at 16 weeks at 100% pay. It extended it to 19 weeks in January 2026. Research by the London School of Economics found that paternity leave take-up increased dramatically because of these reforms. Before 2017, only around 46% of eligible fathers used their entitlement. By 2023, that figure had risen to more than 75%. When part of the leave became compulsory in 2019, take-up increased by around 20 percentage points.

In the UK, though, it feels like policymakers still treat fathers as secondary caregivers – and these outdated attitudes are influencing our inadequate policies. We know what works and what doesn’t, and our current set-up falls into the latter camp.

Fathers want to be more involved at home. They want time with their newborns and they want to share the practical and emotional demands of caring for a child. But a lack of adequate, well-paid leave makes that financially or practically unviable. Two weeks simply isn’t enough.

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