THE prospect of six months' paternity leave for new fathers has met with mixed reactions from the business community.

The Government is considering giving unpaid paternity leave to new fathers providing the child's mother has returned to work.

At the moment, fathers are entitled to two weeks' paternity leave, while mothers get six months.

Graham Sawell, chief executive of Gravesham Chamber of Commerce, said: "This will cause a lot of problems.

"At worst it could lead to the failure of a business if they are missing a key worker.

"You could have a situation where someone has three or four children and they could end up being part-time."

President of the North Kent Chamber of Commerce Jeff Brown has cautiously welcomed the news, saying: "Everyone deserves equal opportunities but it could be difficult.

"In terms of building a strong family unit, it is important but the Government needs to make sure this does not stop small businesses, which are the seed bed of the economy, from growing."

Kent business leader Roger House, who represents the 6,500 member Federation of Small Businesses in Kent, said: "In principle we are very supportive of the family-friendly workplace but we are concerned about the administrative nightmare it might cause.

"Many small businesses do not have an internal pool of labour to draw on and the potential for that business to fail rises if someone is away for several months."

Mr House, who is also policy chairman for the south east, with 30,000 members under his wing, added: "A policy like this has to be variable according to the number of employees in the company.

"If the Government insists on developing these plans, support should be offered to small firms to help meet the additional costs."

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