FATHERS should be allowed three months off work around the time of a child’s birth as well as flexible work opportunities, says a report from the Commons women and equalities committee published today.

Current policies supporting working dads — including shared parental leave, which is deducted from their partner’s maternity leave — are not good enough, MPs said, particularly in the case of less well-off parents.

They called on the government to extend statutory paternity leave in a child’s first year from two weeks to 14, in which time fathers would received 90 per cent of their wages — with the figure capped for higher earners — when ministers review the policy this year.