In this, the last episode of Lockdown Dads, James and I reflect on 18 months of pandemic podcasting as England celebrates "Freedom Day."

The truth is that the fear of catching Covid, home school disruption, and getting through the days are as prevalent as ever. We consider some of the hopelessly optimistic predictions we made in year - lockdown could be all over by June!? But also the certainty of the stay at home messaging v the weariness and low level anxiety of July 2021.

We talk about some of the guests that stuck in our minds and the good, the bad and the absurd of the tips we shared. Who can forget James' pants discussion with Jessica Chivers (Ep20) or Ian going with "it's time to check your energy bills" with Will, drummer in Coldplay (Ep35).

We put to bed the rumour that the best guests are ones with 50,000 Insta followers like Ian's brother Chris (!), and discuss the amazingly practical mindful dad - Ady Griffiths (Ep23) and less than amusing circumstances that comics Philip Simon (Ep6) and Tiernan Douieb (Ep3) faced throughout the pandemic. We talk about research and data, emotionally tricky episodes with Rhian Mannings MBE (Ep38) and Brian Ballantyne (Ep37) and having a laugh with Nathan McGurl (Ep31) and Jamie Beaglehole (Ep34)

So for the moment that is the end of Lockdown Dads, at least in this guise!

And our parting wish is, don't forget that "good enough is good enough."

Our final guest on Lockdown Dads is Will McDonald, Group Sustainability and Public Policy Director at Aviva plc aka "The Job Share Dad."

As one half of the most senior male job share in the UK, Will is a bit of a hero in the dad space, shining a light on the rare world of job sharing (especially when it comes to men)

We learn about Will's path at Aviva and how a conversation about wanting to explore a job share became a work "marriage" to Sam that has lasted 4 years already.

We discover the principles of job share.

• You don't have to like your job share, but you do have to trust them. 
• Sharing an email address or not?
• When in charge, take charge.
• You can only u-turn on your own decision.

And how to set up a job share

• Having imagination.
• The vital role of line manager support. 
• Create confidence with a business plan.
• Talking to other job sharers
• 6 month escape clause

With his dad hat on (5 years as chair of trustees at the Fatherhood Institute), Will talks about Aviva and their flagship work equalising parental leave, removing the financial and cultural stigma of dad taking extended leave and the some of the benefits of supporting dads.

• Couples are less likely to divorce.
• Children are happier.
• Dads less likely to have issues with alcohol.
• Mums are likely to earn more.

TIPS

How to grow carrots effectively (!)
Imagination - start with a blank sheet of paper and be imaginative.
Notepad next to your bed.


The Fatherhood Institute report Lockdown Dads: The Untold Story

http://www.fatherhoodinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Lockdown-Fathers-Executive-Summary.pdf

McKinsey - Paternity Leave benefits

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/a-fresh-look-at-paternity-leave-why-the-benefits-extend-beyond-the-personal

Olga Fitzroy, award winning sound engineer and parental pay equality campaigner joins us to discuss inequalities faced by the self employed. We discover her role in Pregnant Then Screwed's legal challenge against the government  and discuss the legislative environment around self employment and shared parental leave.

Plus school is out again, with education disruption only just starting to be discussed in government. Ian's garden gets short listed for a prize and we briefly ponder the upcoming England v Scotland Euro clash (!)

Olga's path

When her son was born in 2015, she was a self employed sound engineer and looked into the new policy of Shared Parental Leave, only to discover that the self employed aren't allowed to take it

Q, Did you know that self employed men have no paid paternity leave rights?

What started as mission to send a few emails - which would quickly lead to a realisation that the policy needed to fixed... became an ongoing campaign involving the Musician's Union, former and current MPs, Shadow Ministers and a presence in both the Labour and Lib Dem manifestos.

Despite Theresa May commissioning a review of parental leave with the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Brexit and Covid focus has stalled progress, though Olga explains there are a number of key allies on the government benches

We discuss the benefits of Shared Parental Leave 

Mums being able to take less time off, dads get to take more time off, closing the gender pay gap, reducing the motherhood penalty and how a mother's income increases for every month that a father spent at home. 

McKinsey evidence that mothers’ incomes rose about 7 percent for each month that a father spent at home on paternity leave. 

SPL is good for children and for role modelling for young kids, for redressing the Covid impact and creating a gender equal recovery.

...and the challenges in achieving policy change

A lack of genuine experience of self employment in government and civil service, plus a lack of bandwidth, so it's hard to get access.

We talk about the plight of day care v a government focus on 'Winkie' Infrastructure 

Pregnant then Screwed. 

Olga sits on the campaign and policy board, leading on the sex discrimination case against the government as to how the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) is calculated - with periods of maternity leave not being exempted from the self-employed grant calculations. We learn that PTS have been given leave to appeal the original decision in favour of the government.

Tips

Period  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Period-Natalie-Byrne/dp/1999894111

Delayed gratification

Self employed can still get 30 hours free childcare if their income has dropped as a result of Covid 

Links

http://www.parentalpayequality.org.uk/

https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/

https://www.workingdads.co.uk/role-modelling-working-dads/

https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/were-threatening-legal-action-against-the-chancellor-for-indirect-sex-discrimination/

https://www.gov.uk/30-hours-free-childcare