Fathers do 58% more childcare in lockdown than they would normally do, survey finds

‘The Government’s figures show that fathers, given shorter hours and more homeworking, dramatically increase their contribution to childcare,’ says Fatherhood Institute

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Fathers in the UK are spending much more time looking after their children in lockdown, a new survey has found.

Research from the Office for National Statistics found that the number of hours men are spending on childcare has increased by an average of 58 per cent since lockdown began in March.

The survey of 1,300 families was conducted between 28 March and 26 April and also found that men’s weekly working hours (including their commute) has fallen by an average of 11 per cent in the same period of time.

In 2015, men spent 39 per cent of the time women spent on childcare.

In lockdown, this figure has risen to 66 per cent.

The think tank the Fatherhood Institute has worked out that in order to maintain the amount of time fathers are spending on childcare post-lockdown, they would need an additional eight hours of free time each week.

The think tank suggests this could be achieved by reducing the time spent commuting to and from work, working remotely more often, and cutting a few hours from their working week.

The Fatherhood Institute is now calling for the government to encourage fathers to embrace remote working if they can in order to enable them to spend more time on childcare.

Adrienne Burgess, co-chief executive of the Fatherhood Institute, said: “The Government’s figures show that fathers, given shorter hours and more homeworking, dramatically increase their contribution to childcare.

“It’s time to end workplace discrimination against involved fatherhood so that dads can play their part as they wish to – and will do.”

The study comes after research found that full-time working mothers suffer from high stress levels.

A team of researchers from the University of Manchester and the University of Essex analysed data from more than 6,000 individuals collated by The UK Household Longitudinal Study.

The nationwide study, published in the British Sociological Association journal Sociology, gathers various information from households across the country including the working life of the inhabitants, their hormone levels, blood pressure and experiences with stress.

According to their findings, the overall levels of biomarkers associated with chronic stress are 40 per cent higher among women who have two children and are working full-time jobs, in comparison to women who have no children and are also working full-time.