SIR – Barnado's is urging employers to throw their weight behind a new law which allows fathers of new babies to share parental leave with their partners.

Parents of all babies born from 4 April can now split up to 52 weeks of shared parental leave between them as well as up to 39 weeks of statutory shared parental pay.

However, the legislation won’t have the desired impact unless businesses give it their full backing.

We believe the new measures will allow low paid working families, where the mother is the higher earner, the opportunity to provide parental support for their child without worrying about losing their jobs.

Steve Oversby, Director for Barnardo’s, East region