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Save Ed Balls urges employers to make more time for dads
24 June 2009
Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, has called on individual employers to promote their own family friendly working practices, especially flexible hours for dads.
Hosting a coffee morning with DCSF dads, Ed Balls listened to their experiences as working fathers and asked them whether the Department is doing all it can to promote flexible working practices for parents.
The Department offers fathers three weeks paternity leave on full pay with the ability to take the third week flexibly with the agreement of the line manager, compared to the standard offer of two weeks on statutory pay.
Last month the DCSF awarded £3m of funding to parenting organisations to provide advice and support to fathers through the recession. This includes a new campaign on the Dads' Space website to tackle serious parenting issues, related to the recession, via social media.
The call to action to employers is part of the ‘Think Fathers’ campaign, launched last year by the DCSF to kick-start a national debate on the importance of dads. The first national ‘Think Fathers’ summit was held in London on 23 June with professional bodies and organisations, public services and the voluntary sector to encourage them to look at how they can better recognise and support fathers.
Speaking at the summit, Ed Balls said:
"I want all fathers to feel supported by their employers, so that they can make time for their families and work flexibly around caring for their children. That is why we are working with BT and other businesses to produce a guide for employers on the benefits of supporting fathers in the workforce and how to set up family friendly practices.
I know how important it is to take an active role in my children’s lives. Research has shown that children with highly involved fathers at age seven do better at school, have higher self-esteem and are less likely to get into trouble in adolescence. We need to get rid of the outdated assumption that dads are the invisible parent – they deserve to be better recognised for the great job they are doing every day.
Now is precisely the time we must support families because economic instability can put a huge strain on relationships. That’s why last month I announced extra money to give families real help through the recession. We know the early years are a crucial time for child development which is why we are now looking at the support we provide to families from a child’s birth, and how well fathers are engaged at this time of change and vulnerability for families.
Through the ‘Think Fathers’ campaign I want all public services to work better with dads and all employers to make sure dads are given the time they need to be good parents. It’s only right that dads want to spend more time with their children – we must now ensure that we do all we can to support this."
A new ‘Dads Test’ Guide for Children’s Services has been published, produced by the Fatherhood Institute and the Parenting Academy, with the DCSF, to help local services assess how well they recognise and include fathers in their work.
For more information, read the full press notice.
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Last updated on 24/06/2009
