Dads strike for better paternity leave

On Wednesday 11th June 2025, Dads are campaigning for better paternity leave in the UK and let us tell you, we’re here for it.

The team at The Dad Shift have organised a ‘Picket or Pickup’ campaign – you or your loved ones can join the picket line in London or Edinburgh, or opt in to do the school pickup. Join the DadStrike here.

What is the paternity offering in the UK?

Dads and non-birthing parents who are employed get only two weeks off by law.  If eligible to claim, they can expect £187.18 a week or 90% of their average earnings (whichever is lower).

Those who are self-employed, or who earn less than £123 a week, are not eligible.  

It’s giving Eurovision…

Oh look, the UK’s at the bottom of the leaderboard again. It’s hard not to feel hard done by when looking at the paternity offering in other European countries. As the graph shows, the UK comes in last when comparing the number of weeks off at full pay equivalent. Dads and their families in the UK have had enough!  DadShift are asking for:

✅ more substantial paternity leave, giving dads enough time off to support their partner and bond with their kids, without taking leave away from mums;

✅ making it affordable, paying it at a rate that means everyone can afford to take it, including self-employed people; and

✅ giving both parents equal leave, so parents are free to shape their own roles in the family and not have them dictated by gender.

Source image: https://dadshift.org.uk/

Everybody wins

Improving paternity leave in the UK means everybody wins. Campaigners from Pregnant and Screwed have long called for better paternity leave offering, recognising the positive impact on the Motherhood penalty.

“As the gender pay gap currently sits at approximately 19%, it is highly unlikely that men will take paternity leave when they are more likely to have the highest income”

If fathers are incentivised to take longer periods of paid parental leave, that means women aren’t considered the default parent therefore encouraging equality in the work place. Mothers aren’t expected to pick up the poorly child from school, we aren’t the ones expected to take kids to their dentist appointment. It isn’t assumed that we’ll be the ones reducing working hours to do the school pick up. 

Parenting is considered a shared responsibility.

Financielle founder Laura Pomfret’s third maternity leave coincided with her husband having a good paternity leave policy, meaning the couple were able to have equal time off, both help in the early years caring for their children and helping to limit the potential gender pay and gender pension gaps that start to widen at this precious time.

If you’d like to manage your money better together in a couple during parental leave, check out this helpful article here