Labour is set to admit that it has scrapped an election campaign pledge to extend maternity pay to a year because it cannot afford the move, it has been reported.
According to The Guardian, the extension of statutory maternity pay from nine months to a year is the first major victim of the squeeze as the Government seeks to reduce spending.
The additional paid leave would have cost £500 million and given up to £1,600 to those families eligible.
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson is expected to announce, however, that fathers are to be able to claim up to six months paternity leave.
The move will allow parents to split the leave, so that mothers can go back to work after six months and fathers can take time off work instead, claiming pay for the first three months.
Fathers can currently claim up to two weeks of paternity leave.
While the change will play well to the unions, who Prime Minister Gordon Brown is due to address at the TUC conference in Liverpool, it has been opposed by many businesses.
