Council leader Una O’Halloran (centre) sporting a shirt that urges ‘extra time for dads’, with The Dad Shift campaigners Ben and Hannah Marcus in April

ISLINGTON Council has introduced six weeks of paid paternity leave for its employees after a successful campaign by The Dad Shift group earlier this year.

The Town Hall voted unanimously on the motion in July, when both Labour and Green councillors pledged their support to increase the leave beyond the two-week statuatory paternity leave in the UK.

Islington will now offer eligible council employees six weeks of leave at 90 per cent of their normal pay, the same rate that new mothers get.

Islington had previously said it would lobby the government to increase the leave period and has since pressed ahead with their own policy.

Leader of the council Una O’Halloran said: “Becoming a parent is one of the most amazing things anyone can ever experience, and those first few weeks with a new baby are precious.

“But those early weeks are also hugely demanding, as families adjust to a new routine and work out how best to support one another.

“Two weeks simply isn’t enough to do that – we want our colleagues to have more time to be there for their partners, bond with their babies, and build the foundations of family life.”

The policy came after The Dad Shift campaigners left cartons of milk, flowers and eggs on the steps of the Town Hall in April to make the point that each of those ordinary items last longer than the meagre two-week paternity leave in the UK.

Co-ounder of The Dad Shift George Gabriel said: “It’s fantastic to see Islington Council stepping up and helping set an example for what decent paternity leave looks like across local government.

“Two weeks might work for a holiday, but the idea you’re going to support your partner as she recovers from birth, bond with your baby, or begin figuring out what it means to be a father in that time is a joke.

“The evidence couldn’t be clearer – proper paternity leave is good for mums, dads and babies too.

“Islington Council’s actions will help hundreds of working families every year get that bit of extra time together in a moment you can never get back.”