MORE than half of the UK believes that childcare should be shared equally between parents, a survey has revealed. Hannah Wood investigates.

THE attitude that the majority of childcare responsibility falls solely with the mother is far-gone it would appear.

A survey by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills revealed that 53 per cent of people feel that childcare should be the equal responsibility of both parents, while a further 22 per cent believe that a couple should have the right to choose how they divide caring responsibilities, depending on their circumstances.

Cwmbran mum of two and business owner Ceri Howells strongly agrees with this view.

“I absolutely think that childcare should be the responsibility of both parents, as me and my partner are both self employed. I think an equal number of hours from each parent should be set for work and looking after the children and my partner would agree with this.”

Ms Howells is owner of Lollipops and Ladybirds, a keepsake company in Cwmbran and has two children, Harry, 4 and Katie aged 8. Her partner Ned Ashley is owner of Red Monkey Software.

Ms Howells, as an employer also sees the importance of shared childcare. “I employ good staff to work for me and I do expect them to be reliablent, but I understand how difficult juggling childcare can be, as before I had my own business I worked for a law firm and found it hard to balance work and family life.

“I don’t think childcare should lie solely on the mother because me and my partner do have our own businesses and mine is very important, just as important as any.

“I am flexible with my staff but I think it’s also important for mothers to be out there working.”

Another Gwent couple who also agree with this is Dan and Beth Robinson from Crosskeys. The pair help look after their daughter Olivia who has limited mobility due to her cerebral palsy.

Mrs Robinson admits that caring for Olivia, aged 4, and balancing work can be challenging, but doesn’t think this role should only be taken on by mothers.

Mrs Robinson said: “I am not working at the moment so that I can look after Olivia, but before that I was only working two days a week and my husband works full time.

“I think even though times are changing, childcare does still seem to fall more on the mother, but I think it’s important for not only the children but yourself as parents that you share the responsibility for work and social reasons.

“Olivia needs both our care, she needs our care together and she needs time on her own with us individually.

“I do spend more time with her than Dan because of his job, but it is more common for woman to have full time jobs nowadays and I think that’s a good thing.”

Lyndon Heseltine-Smith from Caerleon, Newport has two children Joshua, 21 and Elizabeth 14. He previously owned his own business Sovereign Services in New York before moving back to Newport.

He said: “Obviously as an employer I always wanted to let my staff have time off to spend with their children, but in the mean time I sacrificed spending time with my own family as I was all the way in America.

“It’s really hard to strike a balance and when I was working away, for sometimes months at a time, my wife Julie always looked after Joshua. and

“When I would come home it would throw everything off routine, so the responsibility was primarily on her.

“Looking back now I realise how important it is for children to have the care from both mum and dad.”

The research by the Department of Innovation, Business and Skills, was carried out ahead of the introduction of Shared Parental Leave (SPL), which will apply to parents of babies born or adopted from 5 April this year.

‘Getting to experience looking The new rules mean that parents can split 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay between them in the baby’s first year. SPL also lets parents suggest a flexible pattern of leave to their employer and allows for up to three separate blocks of leave, but employers can agree to more.

Brendan Lynch, a 31 year old legal caseworker from South Wales, took three months of leave to care for his son Isaac, while his wife Laura went back to work.

He said: “The bond you get with your child is the best thing about it. Getting to experience looking after a child full time is invaluable, I understand his likes and his personality so much better. Within the three months I was looking after him he had changed so much. It’s great that both my wife and I got to see different aspects of his development.”

As an employer, Owner of The Green in Caerleon and founder of Welsh Mums in Business, Emma Evans, understands the challenges employers face when granting leave.

She said: “I have parents working for me and in my opinion children do come first and that is what I tell them. I know employers can be less flexible with allowing men to have time off work to take care of the children, but I think whoever is the child’s key carer is, be it mother or father, should be able to look after the children regardless.”

Justine Roberts CEO of Mumsnet recognises that more fathers want to have more time with young children. She said: “Many fathers would love to spend more time with their newborns, and all the evidence shows it encourages bonding and sets a pattern for being more involved in childcare.

“Parenting is a shared business, and both employers and government need to step up to the mark more when it comes to enabling fathers to combine working and caring responsibilities.”

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has also spoken out about this matter and called the view of women staying at home to look after children an “Edwardian notion”.

Mr Clegg calls for a modern Britain and a fair society that works for families, not against them.

He said: “We know that mums and dads want more flexibility and choice when it comes to juggling their home and work lives and we’re listening and taking action.

“That’s why we’ve introduced SPL so that parents can make their own decisions about how to raise their family, whether it’s giving women the choice to go back to work earlier or men the opportunity to spend more time with their children.”

The new shared parental leave system will give parents more choice and freedom in how they share the care of their child in the first year after birth.

Only eligible employees can apply for shared parental leave.

This will enable both mothers and fathers to keep a strong link to the workplace, encouraging fathers to play a greater role in the early stages of their child’s life and allow employers and employees greater flexibility in reaching agreement on how to best balance work and domestic needs without state interference.

For more information on shared parental leave visit www.gov.uk/sharedparentalleave