Aviva: 80% of eligible dads take equal parental leave

Eighty per cent of dads at insurance firm Aviva take at least five months paternity leave four years after it introduced its groundbreaking equal parental leave policy.

The company says equal parental leave has now been taken by over 2,500 people, almost half of whom were men and the average length of paternity leave taken has increased by three weeks over the four years: in 2021 it was 24 weeks, compared to 21 weeks in 2018. The average length of maternity leave has slightly decreased over the last four years, from 45 weeks in 2018 to 43 weeks in 2021.

Aviva says 268 parents have now taken equal parental leave more than once, including 131 men taking it twice.

Since 2017, Aviva has offered up to one year of leave, of which 26 weeks’ is at full basic pay for parents employed by the company within the first 12 months of a child’s arrival. This applies to part and full-time employees in all UK offices and locations at all levels of the company. The policy includes adoption and surrogacy. If both parents work for Aviva, each has their own entitlement to leave and pay, which they can take at the same time. There is no requirement to share the parental leave between parents.

• Vote  
• 0
• 0
• You already voted!