The Princess of Wales has been praised for showing “real leadership” after her early years initiative sparked major changes to help support parents and their families.
Kate launched the Business Taskforce for Early Childhood with the Royal Foundation in March 2023 to inspire companies to invest in early childhood in order to create a happier and more productive workforce.
A year on from its Case for Change report, a number of businesses involved in the taskforce have announced some impactful policies and projects to do just that – with Deloitte UK changing its parental policies to give all parents 26 weeks full pay.
This announcement has been fully welcomed by The Dad Shift, who are actively campaigning for legislative changes in paternity leave. Currently, new fathers are entitled to two weeks’ of paid paternity leave.
Alex Lloyd-Hunter, co-founder of The Dad Shift said: “Just last week we were outside Buckingham Palace hanging up baby grows spelling ‘Two weeks isn’t enough’, so we’re delighted to learn the Princess of Wales has been championing good paternity leave behind the scenes.
“It’s good to see more and more companies realising that better paternity leave is in their interest and stepping up with generous policies. But the vast majority of smaller businesses can’t afford to do this, and that means their employees are stuck with the worst paternity leave in Europe – two weeks at less than half the minimum wage. And you get nothing at all if you’re self-employed.
“That’s why we need urgent government action to significantly improve our statutory offer so every father and non-birthing parent gets a decent amount of properly paid leave, not just those lucky enough to work for the most progressive employers. The Princess has shown real leadership on this issue – now it’s time for ministers to follow her example.”
Making an impact
Deloitte is one of eight of the UK’s leading businesses, who are part of Kate’s Business Taskforce, as well as Iceland Foods, Natwest Group and IKEA UK and Ireland. It has also funded more than 1,300 early years teachers to undertake Teach First leadership qualifications.
Meanwhile, IKEA has partnered with local baby banks to ensure families have the essentials they need and launched a product range which raised money for the Baby Bank Alliance.
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Iceland has launched a range of toddler meals with Mumsnet, which raises money for Alder Hey Hospital and NatWest has increased its lending capacity for early years settings and produced tools to support nurseries to operate in a more sustainable way.
The Business Taskforce’s report stated that investing in early childhood could generate at least £45.5 billion in value added for the national economy each year.
“Life’s work”
The Princess launched the Centre for Early Childhood in 2021 after a decade of royal duties. Two years later, it unveiled its major campaign, Shaping Us, which has been described as her “life’s work” and is aimed at raising the profile of the crucial period of a child’s development, from pregnancy to the age of five.
In February, the Shaping Us Framework was published by the Centre, which aims to help boost the nation’s social and emotional skills.
The project aims to increase awareness and “develop and nurture” a set of crucial life skills we all possess from the moment we are born which are the “bedrock of any healthy, happy society”, but this must be a priority if we are to “thrive,” Kate wrote in the report’s foreword.
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