Discover the UK’s Best Parental Leave Policies

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:

👏 147 Equal Parental Leave offers.

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

👏 Plus, 103 “Equal via Shared Parental Leave” offers (Maternity and SPL match)

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

(Correct on 14th October 2025)

“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 leave above 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.”

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.

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Inspiring Dads’ Parental Leave Database

We recommend viewing on a desktop device.
Maternity, Paternity and Shared Parental leave allowances are shown as weeks of fully paid leave.
See HERE for valuable tips on how to use and more explanation of the terminology used.
Click on Grid view to download this free resource in a CSV format.

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

Employees and Individuals should check for eligibility requirements and changes in policy. Additional eligibility criteria may be required in all instances. Some eligibility criteria will be based on Qualifiying Week (QW) and some on EWC (Expected week of childbirth.)

Parental Leave Database Terminology

Leave is indicated as weeks of fully paid leave, with plus or minus indicators.
- ‘26 plus’ for Baillie Gifford because 26 weeks is at full pay and 13 weeks at half pay.
- ‘26 minus’ for Mars because their 26 weeks are at 90% of salary.
‘Equal leave’ status is where maternity and paternity leave are equal. Some organisations use shared parental leave rather than paternity leave to equalise their offer. This is indicated as ‘Equal via SPL.’
Industry sectors can be difficult to define, but are used here to support what we consider to be the most relevant benchmarking.
UK size - some organisations have large global employee footprints, but this database focuses on UK employee numbers.
Maternity leave is sometimes described as ‘primary carer’ leave, while paternity leave can be ‘secondary carer’ or ‘co-parent’ leave.
Organisations may describe adoption or fostering leave as either primary or secondary carer leave.