Full Pay, equal parental leave lies at the heart of successful gender equality initiatives.

There is a growing awareness that building a diverse and inclusive workplace is not a challenge that can be easily solved by only creating initiatives aimed solely at women. Initiatives to support new mums in the workplace remain of crucial importance, but an additional focus on new dads has the benefit of re-framing the conversation away from the prevailing binary gender stereotypes of carer and “all in” breadwinner.

Our UK Database shows:

👏 148 Equal Parental Leave offers.

👏 70 of these are at least 26 weeks of fully paid, Equal Parental Leave.

👏 Plus, 105 “Equal via Shared Parental Leave” offers (where Maternity and SPL match)

👏 233 organisations in the UK who offer at least 6 weeks, fully paid Paternity Leave

(Correct on 9th Jan 2026, updated quarterly)

Organisations can be awarded one of 5 tiers.

Diamond. More than 26 weeks fully paid Equal Parental Leave (EPL).

Gold. 26 weeks fully paid Equal Parental Leave (EPL).

Silver. Between 18 and 25 weeks of fully paid Paternity Leave.

Bronze. Between 12 and 17 weeks of fully paid Paternity Leave OR 20 weeks or more of Shared Parental Leave

Commended.Between 6 and 11 weeks of fully paid Paternity Leave OR 12 weeks or more of Shared Parental Leave

“when looking for a new role, 43% of new dads look for paid paternity leave”

More time spent looking after their children is good for dads’ well-being and mental health, unlocks workplace opportunities for their partners, improves equality at home and redefines, for everyone, what “being committed” looks like in the workplace. In addition, parental leave policies are increasingly seen as a point of difference in both recruitment and retention.

Research from Zurich discovered that:

“when looking for a new role, 43% of new dads look for paid paternity leaveabove bonus (42%) and salary (27%)”, which isn’t surprising when the same data showed that “of those that take no time at all, seven out of 10 can’t afford to”, while “a third of new dads were forced to take holiday while 12% resorted to unpaid leave in order to spend time with their new babies.”

Of course paternity leave isn’t only the policy or support mechanism that can be implemented, take the quiz and discover whether your organisation is an employer of choice.

The Law is slowly improving

The Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 enables fathers to split paternity leave into two, one-week blocks.

Employment Rights Act 2025 makes paternity leave a day one employment right (from April 2026), allowing someone to give notice of leave from the first day of employment. However there is no day 1 right to statutory paternity pay.

But, New Dads Lose over £1,000 on statutory leave

The Fatherhood Institute has shown that a father on average UK earnings stands to lose £1,000 if he takes two weeks’ leave at the statutory rate. Find out more about the FI’s 6 weeks for dads campaign here, and check out its Fatherhood Factsheets, including one about Paternity and Parental Leave and another on Sharing the Earning and Caregiving.