Police officers have described being ostracised for taking paternity leave, as it is revealed that back-office staff in the Metropolitan police are entitled to proportionately nearly three times as much paternity pay as frontline fathers.
A freedom of information request has revealed that most serving police officers in England and Wales only take one week of paternity leave, with some describing being on “blue lights” duty and carrying Tasers a week after the birth of their babies.
Among the 44 forces that replied to an FoI by the paternity rights campaign group the Dad Shift, 75% provided one week paternity leave at full pay, with a second week on statutory pay.
Forces were asked for their paternity leave policy, how many officers had taken paternity leave over the last three years, and how many weeks they took.
Thirty-five forces provided data on paternity leave take-up. In the 30 forces providing only one week full pay, 60% of officers returned to work after seven days. In the five forces that provided data and offered two weeks’ fully paid leave, only 12% of officers went back to work after a week.
More than 50 testimonies from officers and their families raised concerns about the treatment of fathers, with officers describing a culture where involved fathers were “mocked”, “slagged off” or “ostracised”.
One former officer, who said the strain of his family was one of the biggest reasons he left the force, said he was “treated very poorly” and “slagged off behind his back” for taking two weeks’ unpaid leave to care for his partner after an emergency caesarean.
“Overall the police service doesn’t support fathers fairly at all,” he said. “[The] culture makes men feel like they need to be back at work asap. If you’re not, you’re looked down on or treated differently.”
In another example, a firearms officer was not allowed to adjust the dates of his paternity leave when his baby arrived three weeks early, meaning that on the day his wife and baby came out of hospital he did a night shift carrying a firearm.
The Met police, the largest force in England and Wales, offers civilian staff – in roles such as administration or 999 call handling – three weeks of paternity leave at full pay. However, frontline officers get one fully paid week, with the second paid at the statutory rate of £184.03 a week, a quarter of the starting salary for a Met officer.
The Met said in a statement: “Officers and staff have different terms and conditions, set separately. For officers, these are governed nationally via police regulations and for staff, set by the Met. Fair terms and conditions are important to everyone.”
Paternity leave for police officers is governed by police regulations, set by the Home Office, a spokesperson for the National Police Chiefs’ Council said. Forces have to offer one week at full pay and one week at statutory pay for qualifying officers.
However, at least nine forces across England and Wales now offer a second week of paternity leave on full pay. British Transport Police and the Civil Nuclear constabulary give officers three weeks’ leave on full pay, while Derbyshire, Greater Manchester, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Mercia and West Midlands give two weeks’ full pay.
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester police said the increase in paternity pay, made last year, reflected “the changing nature of modern families”. They added: “It’s important to us that we do our utmost to support our officers and staff as they enter their journey into parenthood.”
A survey from the Police Federation found that more than one in five officers were ready to quit the service in 2023 – up from 18% in 2022 and 12% in 2021. Of 2,654 officers who left the police between 2017 and 2024, 27% resigned before they reached pension age, with 63% saying the impact on their family life was a critical factor.
Alex Lloyd Hunter, a cofounder of the Dad Shift, urged Yvette Cooper to improve paternity pay for officers and speak to the Met commissioner to tackle its “grossly unfair policy”.
“The home secretary has done a lot to ensure the police are doing better to protect women and girls,” he said. “Supporting dads in the force properly, so they can be involved caregivers, is part of that same equality agenda.”
A Home Office spokesperson said police bodies made recommendations on pay, and that the government recognised that support for officers was “vital, as a healthy and engaged police workforce will be better able to tackle crime and protect the public”.
