David Renton with partner Anne and son Sam. Pic by Sherrl Janowitz

David Renton, 32, of north London, took the maximum two weeks paternity leave when his son, Sam, was born on 21 May but says it was not enough.

The union official applied for all his annual leave in one go to allow himself an additional two weeks off work to spend with partner Anne Alexander, 30, and Sam.

"It's been lovely getting a bit of paternity leave but the leave I've had hasn't been nearly enough.

"It was quite a difficult birth, so Anne really needed time to be in bed and to switch off and Sam was asleep most of the time.

No holiday

"So for me, the whole two weeks went by in a zoom of shopping and cleaning and tidying.

"By the end of two weeks it didn't seem as though I'd had any time with him at all, so I took all my annual leave in one go to give myself an extra two weeks."

Every day he's looking at life a bit more and working out where things are, trying different things with his hands and face David Renton 'Double paternity leave'

He now has no holiday left this year and no leeway to take time off if Sam gets ill, which he says "seems a bit wrong".

But he has few regrets.

"Every day he's looking at life a bit more and working out where things are, trying different things with his hands and face.

"The first two weeks were a really important stage, obviously, and was wonderful but, looking back, weeks three and four were pretty special too, in some ways more special.

"If I'd just taken the two weeks paternity leave like I was supposed to, I would have missed all of that."

He says even in his place of work, a trade union, taking paternity leave was not viewed as the norm.

Pressure

"I work for a lovely company but still people were saying: 'Should you really be taking time off? This is an important time for us.' So without them meaning it to be, I did feel there was a bit of pressure.

"It's only two weeks but people were treating it as something very strange."

He also is worried about administrative hurdles which may make it hard for men to take their paternity leave at the time when they need it most.

Boys are supposed to spend time with fathers, it helps them do better at school and so on. But the government could make it a bit easier David Renton

"You have to tell your employer 15 weeks in advance, which I did, but then Sam was born 10 days late, which is quite normal for a first baby.

"To change the date, you have to give another 28 days notice.

"This could have meant that my paternity leave was used up almost before he was born. Or I could have ended up having to take it quite a bit after he was born.

"In the end it was fine for me, they were absolutely lovely and supportive at work but I worry that for other dads that could be a real pain."

The uptake of paternity leave in the UK is currently only 2%.

But Mr Renton thinks more would apply for it if the benefits were more generous, with higher minimum rates of pay and a longer leave time of up to six months.

He said: "Even if it went up from 2% to 30%, that would make such a difference in terms of fathers being able to bond with their children.

"We've got a boy. Boys are supposed to spend time with fathers, it helps them do better at school and so on. But the government could make it a bit easier.

"If it became the norm then no one business would be losing out."