Labour announces plans to boost paternity leave
Labour has unveiled plans for a significant boost to paternity leave if it wins the election - doubling the time fathers can take off to four weeks.
The party also wants to increase the statutory amount fathers qualify for during paternity leave, which is currently £138.18 a week, by an extra £100 a week.
The plan is expected to cost the taxpayer at least £150 million a year if it succeeds in raising take-up by around a quarter - a sum the Opposition says would be more than offset by savings in tax credits from extending free childcare.
Launching what the party dubbed "Father's Month" as part of a coordinated push of family-friendly policies, leader Ed Miliband contrasted the reform with a Conservative promise of a tax break for married couples.
He said: "The Tories want to spend £700 million on what they call a married couple's allowance but which in fact will go to just one in five families with children."
"Instead, at the heart of Labour's plan is the belief that Britain succeeds when modern working families succeed.
"That means giving dads, as well as mums, the chance to spend more time at home in those crucial weeks after babies have been born."