Paternity leave - can the government achieve family utopia?

Can the Government really achieve Utopia?

Can there ever be a work life/balance for both men and women. That is what the Government hopes to achieve with expanding on the new Additional Paternity Leave provision.

The current law
Eligible employees as of 6 April 2003 are entitled to take either one whole week or two consecutive weeks ordinary paternity leave within 56 days of the child’s birth or placement for adoption.

The Paternity & Adoption Regulations 2002 set out the minimum statutory requirement to ordinary paternity leave (“OPL”) together with the criteria that the employee must meet and the steps they must take to exercise that criteria.

The purpose of the OPL was to enable an employee to care for the child or support the child’s mother. The eligibility criteria that was to be satisfied was sufficient service with their employer, one of the specified relationships with either the child or the child’s mother or adopter, and having responsibility for the child’s upbringing. The employee could then either take one or two consecutive weeks.