The government is currently reviewing the parental leave system, but MPs on the WEC Committee are concerned they will only ‘tinker around the edges’ of the overly complex system, which has ‘fundamental failings’, and is not providing support fit for a modern world.

The committee’s Equality at work: Paternity and shared parental leave report, criticised the ‘damaging’ low statutory pay, inadequate leave periods for fathers and other parents, the exclusion of many working parents and guardians, as well as design flaws and unnecessary complexity in the shared parental leave (SPL) scheme.

The UK’s rate of statutory parental pay has not kept pace with inflation, the report said, and is far below rates in most comparable countries, the report found. The statutory weekly rate of paternity pay is £187.18, or 90% of average weekly earnings (whichever is lower).