DadTalk

Paternity leave fraud

Official documents reveal there will be no eligibility checks when hundreds of thousands of men get the right to extended leave from next April.

Business leaders raised fraud fears last night over plans to allow new fathers to sign themselves off for six months' paternity leave.

Official documents reveal there will be no eligibility checks by the Government when hundreds of thousands of men get the right to extended leave from next April.

Ministers say fathers will be entitled to take the leave only if their wife or partner has gone back to work. But Government papers suggest that no official checks will be made with the mother's employer. Instead, employees will be able to 'self-certify' that they are eligible, prompting fears that firms could be conned by men whose partners have not really returned to employment.

The documents admit: 'There may be a risk of fraud. Although checks with third parties may prove useful, the financial and time costs of the verification process would be significant and likely to outweigh the benefit.'

Ministers are pressing ahead with the scheme, which allows mothers to transfer part of their maternity leave to their partners, despite concerns about the impact on struggling firms.

At present, new fathers are entitled to two weeks' paid leave and mothers to a year, with 39 weeks paid. But from April 2011, a mother going back to work after six months off will be able to transfer the rest of her leave to her partner. He will be paid the statutory rate of £123.06 a week up to the 39-week cut-off period for women, after which it is unpaid.

Read more at the Daily Mail