The EHRC report found that fathers who don’t take paternity leave would have liked to ‘a lot’.

British fathers are working long hours and struggling to balance their work and family lives, with the fear of job security, according to research from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). It also found that over half of all fathers do not take paternity leave because “they can’t afford to.”

The report gathered evidence from a YouGov survey of 4,500 parents in England, Scotland and Wales, together with qualitative research from online forums involving a wide range of fathers groups. The results of which have been released by the EHRC to coincide with Parents’ Week.

According to the report, 45% of men fail to take their two weeks’ paternity leave after the birth of their child, citing money problems as the most common reason. Two in five men fear that requesting flexible working from an employer may result in discrimination against them, though two in three men consider the option of flexible working as high on the list when job hunting.

Andrea Murray, EHRC Acting Group Director Strategy, said: “It is clear that today’s families require a modern approach to balancing work and childcare commitments.

“Two-thirds of fathers see flexible working as an important benefit when looking for a new job. This highlights an opportunity for British businesses to use flexible working as an incentive for attracting and retaining the most talented of employees.”

The Fatherhood Institute, the UK’s fatherhood think-tank, has spoken out in support of a parental system which would reduce the differential between a mother’s and father’s parental entitlement.

In its briefing paper, Supporting Families and Relationships Through Parental Leave, it suggests moving towards a number of new parental entitlements including thinking seriously about introducing flexibility in leave-taking into the system, as well as increasing statutory paternity pay to 6 weeks at not less than 80% wage replacement.

Current paternity arrangements include two weeks’ statutory paternity leave paid at a flat rate of £123.06 per week. Under new government proposals, by 2011 fathers will be able to take an additional six months paternity leave, of which three would be paid at the statutory rate of pay and three months unpaid – based on the mother relinquishing six months of her maternity leave.

The EHRC research also revealed that half of fathers believed they spent too much time at work; and 55% of fathers said they would take an additional four weeks paid leave if it was available to them.

For more information on what the Fatherhood Institute suggests, visit its pages here.