article_snippet: – the maternity leave rate of £138.18 a week.
article_snippet: It means parents can split a year off work between parents at statutory pay.
article_snippet: The policy will be in the party’s manifesto and would be introduced in 2018-19 after consultation with businesses.
article_snippet: businesses hope half a million fathers would benefit from the scheme which would cost £58million a year, and be paid for once the deficit is cleared.
article_snippet: But Lib Dem sources said his policy would help businesses retain staff who wanted to take time off with businesses families.
article_snippet: Lib Dem sources said: ‘There was low uptake of that scheme because it wasn’t paid, so families made decisions based on families finances.
article_snippet: The scheme is modelled on a similar one in Sweden in which fathers get a ‘daddy month’ and also the right to shared leave for more than a year.
highlights_snippet: Pledges to pay dads of newborns the maternity leave rate of £138.18 a week .
  