Government plans more flexible paternity leave

The government will consult on the regulations with a view to giving families greater flexibility in how they look after their children.

Harriet Harman, minister for women and equality, said: "Mothers will be able to choose to transfer the last six months of their maternity leave to the father, with three months paid. This gives families radically more choice and flexibility in how they balance work and care of children, and enables fathers to play a bigger part in bringing up their children."

Sarah Jackson, chief executive of charity Working Families, welcomed the news but said the government could still do more. "We'd prefer to see a much stronger right, an independent right to properly paid time-off for all fathers, not a transferable right available only to those fathers whose partners choose to return to work before the end of their maternity leave.  Experience in other European countries shows that this is what works best, and is most likely to lead to greater involvement with their children by fathers.  But until then, this is a good start," she said.