SINGAPORE, Jan 28 — More than 29,000 eligible working fathers applied for a full week of paid paternity leave between 2013 and last year.  

Sharing figures in Parliament today, Social and Family Development Minister Tan Chuan-Jin said 5,500 eligible working fathers applied for paid paternity leave in 2013, when the scheme began.

11,900 and 12,300 fathers took paid paternity leave in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

In total, 29,700 working fathers applied for paternity leave from 2013 to 2015.

The minister was responding to Marine Parade GRC MP Seah Kian Peng’s question on the take-up rate for paid paternity leave from 2013 to 2015, and the number of employers that have agreed to provide an additional week of paid paternity leave since an enhancement to the scheme was announced in August last year.

Under the enhanced scheme, fathers of babies born on or after Jan 1 last year can claim an additional week of paid leave.

Tan noted that statistics for the take-up rate of the enhanced scheme would be available only after changes to the IT system and process are completed in the middle of this year, when employers will begin submitting their claims.

“With the additional week of paternity leave granted, fathers can have more opportunities to spend (time) with their children. And I think also it’s important for the marriage … to allow both parents — both fathers and mothers — to not only just enjoy the joys of parenthood, but to also partake in the responsibilities of bringing up their child,” said Tan. — TODAY