New rights for Surrogacy fathers in UK

Anticipant fathers of pregnant women now have the right to take leave for antepartum appointments, the government has announced.

With the announcement the right also extends to long-term partners of the mother even if they are not married or the parents in a surrogacy agreement for getting the child.  They have the right to two appointments and can take up to six and a half hours for each. Employers are able to provide even longer time if they opt.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills brought in this policy as part of the government’s tries to encourage the involvement of fathers and partners in the early lives of children.

Jo Swinson, the Employment Relations Minister, said the move would “kick start a culture change in workplaces” to make fathers “feel more convinced talking to their employers about taking leave for childcare”.

She added that the next move for the government is to introduce shared parental leave. This would give moms and adopters “real choice about when they return to work” and allow fathers “more time to bond with their children”, she said. Shared parental leave will becomeeffective from April 5^th 2015 onwards for children born, or adoptions made.