Dads have to go back to work too soon after babies born, families say

A disabled mum from Greater Manchester has joined a campaign for better paternity leave after being "stopped in her tracks" by the challenges of adapting to motherhood alone.

Melissa Johns, 36, from Ashton-under-Lyne, welcomed her first child in October.

Despite requiring six weeks to recover from a caesarean section, Melissa - who was born without a fully formed right arm - was left to face maternity leave alone after her partner went back to work when their daughter was two weeks old.

She has now joined a campaign to change the law to let fathers take longer paternity leave, and to receive a bigger proportion of their salary when they do.

But sceptics say such changes would have a significant impact on businesses, and question how they could be afforded.

Melissa said: "Having one arm means that I rely on my core strength a lot more," Melissa said.

So not having that strength for so long was really hard.

"In addition to that, having one arm plus a newborn - I really needed to have my husband."

• Introduced in 2003, the statutory allowance means partners are permitted to take two weeks paternity leave, paid at £194.32 a week or 90% of their average earnings, whichever is lower, which works out at less than half of the National Living Wage.

• Statutory paternity leave applies to birth, surrogacy or adoption and includes same-sex couples.

• But self-employed dads or those who earn less than £129 a week are ineligible.

• From 6 April, paternity leave became a day-one right for an employee - where previously an employee would have needed to have been at the role for six months before being eligible.

After Melissa and her partner Dan welcomed their daughter Ottilly into the world, Dan went back to work after two weeks of paternity leave.

He used annual leave to be able to be at home more often.

"Two weeks is not enough," she said. "C-sections are on the rise and we're literally told when we leave hospital we shouldn't even be lifting kettles.

"That sort of gets ignored quite quickly."

The Dad Shift is a campaign group which is lobbying for "substantial" and "equal" leave for non-birthing parents paid at a rate that means "everyone can afford to take it", including self-employed people.

"I've had friends who have literally had to leave their partners after one or two days, because they're just losing too much money," she said.

"The provisions are dated.

"There needs to be change at a government level and an understanding of exactly what is happening on the ground every single day for parents."

Dad-of-two and fellow campaigner, Alex Clark, 36, from Stockport, said current paternity provisions meant he took a month of unpaid leave following the birth of his second child in April.

Alex, who is a mechanical engineer, said he made the decision to take unpaid leave after the stress of returning to work after the birth of his first child in 2023.

"We had a really hard time when my daughter was born three years ago," Alex said.

"My partner was recovering from the trauma of an unplanned c-section.

"I had two weeks paternity and the intense months that followed my return to work had a profound impact on both of our mental health."

Alex said it has been "amazing" to take unpaid leave this year after the birth of his son, but added that the decision has not come without its own cost.

"It was definitely a financial strain," he said.

"We started saving up for it before we got pregnant.

"But lots of people can't afford to do that and it is really sad.

"It becomes a class issue when people can't afford it."

In addition to statutory paternity provisions, if both parents have been employed for more than 26 weeks by the same employer they may be eligible to share parental leave.

But according to a 2025 report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), which looked at the variation in paternity leave uptake both before and after the roll out of shared leave, there was "no clear change in level or trend around the time of policy implementation".

While this appears to indicate a potential disinterest in parental leave, for Alex, this was not the case.

"I was actually eligible to take some enhanced shared parental leave," Alex said. "But that would have meant taking the time off of my partner.

"Because we earn about the same actually it would have meant a whole load more paperwork for no actual gain."

The IFS report said the limited uptake of shared leave suggested reform was necessary.

The Dad Shift campaign comes as the government is carrying out a full review of parental leave and pay to "ensure the system reflects the realities of modern work and childcare".

The ongoing review, launched in July 2025, will look at statutory leave to consider how the parental leave and pay system could be improved to better support working families and meet the needs of the modern economy.

It is expected to conclude with a set of findings and a plan in early 2027.

"The first few weeks of being a parent can be both some of the most rewarding and challenging," Minister for the Future of Work Kate Dearden said.

"We are determined to make sure dads and partners can be there to provide support as much as possible, especially in those crucial first few weeks and months when mums are often recovering from childbirth."

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the professional body for HR and people development, have said business benefits of supporting working parents improves staff retention and attracts valued employees.

"Organisations can support working parents in a range of ways, CIPD senior policy advisor Claire McCartney said. "These include the provision of flexible working, enhanced parental leave, and pay and return to work support."

But the issue of increased paternity provisions is can be an issue for small businesses and employers.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has called for further government relief for small businesses and a focus on self-employed people.

"We all want to see improved parental benefits, but small employers need help to afford them," National Chair at the FSB, Tina McKenzie, said.

"Often these debates focus too narrowly on traditional employees, and ignore the self-employed people within the UK's workforce.

"Fathers and partners who work for themselves currently have no equivalent right to statutory paternity pay and leave, which can leave them having to return to work within days of a birth.

"In today's modern world of work, children of self-employed parents should not be left behind."

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