Shared parental leave a no brainer

Nicola Willis has drawn from the ballot in December her bill to allow parents to share their paid parental leave, so they can both take it at the same time.

I would hope that it will be supported by all 120 MPs.

What this will allow is for families to decide to (for example) have the father take six weeks paid parental leave and the mother take 20 weeks paid parental week, so both parents can be home for the first six weeks together.

It won’t cost the taxpayers an extra cent, but will give flexibility so that both parents can have a paid break from work during those first few weeks. And as you spend a lot of those first six weeks as a sleep deprived zombie, having both parents at home is a great option for many.