![image: [ Ministers want fathers to participate more in family life ]](/olmedia/70000/images/_73782_baby300.jpg)
The Times newspaper reports that the payment could be on a par with existing statutory maternity pay of about £57 a week, with employers being reimbursed by the government for about 90% of that amount.
According to government sources, the proposal for paid paternity leave is part of an attempt to put "family-friendly policies" into place.
It has also been suggested that the plans were leaked by the Social Security Secretary and Minister for Women, Harriet Harman, who is reportedly backing the proposals, possibly to stave off rumours that she could be moved in a Cabinet reshuffle.
The move would be on top of Labour's existing plan to offer both men and women three months' unpaid parental leave from December 1999, when Britain adopts the European Social Chapter.
The Social Chapter directive also protects parents from dismissal for taking parental leave or applying to take it.
Currently only 31% of workplaces in the UK offer any paid paternity leave, and fewer than a quarter offer fathers unpaid parental leave, according to figures from the Department of Trade and Industry.
The UK lags far behind many other European countries in provisions for parental leave.
Mothers win sacking cases
(27 Feb 98 | UK)
Mums unhappy with maternity care
(21 Jan 98 | UK)
Harman to reform maternity pay
(11 Jan 98 | UK)
Department of Social Security
European Commission - parental leave
European Commission - social and employment policy
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