JONATHAN BEALE: A new life has started and with it comes new rights, rights that should allow a mother and father to see much more of their child growing up. Yvonne Griffin is five months pregnant. When the baby's born she and her husband John will each be entitled to thirteen weeks off work - unpaid. Matilda and Lars Bilk from Sweden already have another mouth to feed - Alice is one and a half years old. In their country parents have long enjoyed the right to share up to a year off work to spend time with their baby. And in Sweden it's paid leave. HARRIET HARMAN MP: I've been pressing the Government to step in and pay it to make sure that everybody has an equal access to this new right. WILSON STRUTTE: If they do paid leave and there's no compensation for the employer I think "Disaster". BEALE: Parents are being given new rights as a result of European Union legislation. But while many countries are offering paid parental leave, Britain is not. The Government is caught in a dilemma. It wants to be seen helping families cope with the competing demands of parenting and work, but at the same time it doesn't want to scare business which says will have to pay a price. ALAN JOHNSON: Some businesses aren't happy with what we've introduced. Some trade unions aren't happy with what we've introduced, but we've introduced what we said we would introduce. We've done it for the benefit of people at work with parental responsibilities and in the interests of family friendly policies. BEALE: John and Yvonne lead a hectic life. Both work full time. He's a manager for a company in Lancashire, she's a manager for a firm near Bradford. Yvonne is already planning to use her eighteen weeks maternity leave when the baby's born. But both would also like to make use of their new parental rights. YVONNE: It would be nice to have some time off work with the child when it's born wouldn't it. JOHN: Very convenient. It would be nice to spend as much time off as possible really. YVONNE: Yeah when we're starting a family. BEALE: But John's boss sees parental leave as another thorn in the side of British business. Wilson Strutte employs thirty-six people selling tyre maintenance and repair products. He says he can't afford to fill the gap if staff take time off, even if it is unpaid. WILSON STRUTTE: It's going to have a detrimental effect on businesses, particularly on the smaller businesses where employees are not lost in side offices and behind screens. You know when you've got thirty six people here, fifteen who work at head office, everybody counts. We are a team and if one's away, it's noticed because we're all doing a full day's job. BEALE: The Government has had to consider not just John and Yvonne, but also their employers. So Ministers have said that bosses will be able to negotiate with staff. They will only be guaranteed a maximum of four weeks off in any one year. More controversially the Government says the new rules only apply to children born after December the fifteenth. HARMAN: There is a strong argument that that is in breach of the European directive on parental leave. And therefore what they should do is say any child, even if it was born this year or last year or the year before. If it's under five the parents should be entitled to parental leave in respect of that child. ALAN JOHNSON: All countries introducing it under this directive have introduced it with a cut off date. And I think that's perfectly understandable and you know we took legal advice on this as well. We can see no case for any legal challenge. BEALE: The Government says it's listened to the concerns of business and so is applying the legislation with a light touch. But that has disappointed parents, trade unions and many of the Government's own backbenchers who believe it should be doing more to encourage parental leave. They fear that without any financial incentives to take time off work the new rules will simply become a perk for the rich. YVONNE: I couldn't afford to take time off work unpaid. JOHN: Neither of us could take time of work without pay. YVONNE: We couldn't afford to, not the way we live at the moment. RUTH KELLY: Unless it's paid I just don't think fathers are going to take advantage of it and I don't think the low paid are going to take advantage of it. Obviously they will do in crisis situations but we want to do more than that, we want to change the way that people view their workplace in its relation to their family. BEALE: The Government's own estimate suggests a small proportion of parents will use their new entitlement if it's unpaid. Only thirty-five per cent of women and two per cent of men. But in European Union countries where parents are paid the take up rate is much higher. In Holland, not everyone receives financial compensation, but most public sector employees do. In total forty per cent of women and nine per cent of men take time off work to be with their child. Sweden has the most generous arrangements - everyone gets paid by the state. Here ninety per cent of women and seventy-eight per cent of men take advantage of parental leave. Matilda and Lars Bilk receive eighty per cent of their salary when they take their parental leave. In Sweden, most families split it so that the father takes one month off, the mother eleven months. It's transformed the way men in particular view their role in family life: LARS BILK: I guess the Government wanted to push fathers to be more involved in their kids early years and the life in general I think that's the idea. MATILDA: To encourage both parents to be with their child, to really get this deep contact as I think the Government in Sweden found out is necessary for the children I think. BEALE: The Evidence from abroad shows that for parental leave to be a success it has to be paid. If it's not few parents will be able to afford to take time off work. And that would mean the legislation failing to deliver the social benefits it was designed for. Mothers have long been left at home holding the baby. And there was a time when the man was the only breadwinner. Today more and more mothers are going back to work. This legislation could be a boost for sexual equality as well as family life. But it could also cost the Government hundreds of millions of pounds. Many Labour MPs though believe fathers need an incentive. KELLY: There's evidence from Scandinavian countries and lots of other European countries that if you pay for parental leave it changes behaviour, that the culture at the work changes. That expectations change and that people see family as very important and they start to take that leave BEALE: But businesses say the consequences for them would be unacceptable. If the Government offers parents payment, more staff will be prepared to take time off work. STRUTTE: I just wonder what would happen if they have twins or triplets or quads, they wouldn't work at all. If they actually make it attractive for someone to take the time off then it will just add to the unemployment in this country. Because I don't believe smaller companies such as ours can survive that sort of thing. JOHNSON: Well even if the Government did contribute towards it that would still put a burden on business. What the government couldn't do is assist a small company, for instance, who would have to get someone in to replace that worker. So giving money to the person who's taking parental leave - even if that comes from Government still means that there's a burden on business here. BEALE: Tony Blair and his Government may say they're against paid leave, but his pregnant wife Cherie has spoken out in support of the principle. With such prominent advocates the Government cannot ignore the issue. This week it will set up an independent monitoring committee to review the take up rate. The argument is far from over. HARMAN: I think there's a lot of concern from the back benches that the government should really act to be a family friendly Government, to really support parents. I think there's a lot of commitment on that. There's a lot of commitment also that the Government stands for equality, it doesn't want things that some families could have and others can't afford. So I think those two things together do amount to a sense that parental leave should be paid. KELLY: When any policy is being implemented you should do it as carefully and sensitively as possible. But at the end of the day if the policy isn't delivering to families then that policy will have to change. YVONNE: Yes it will cost but in the long term there is great benefits to be had from it from families. BEALE: It may be the season of goodwill, but in the short term the Government is unlikely to be handing families money to make use of their new right let alone the kind of generous arrangements which have enabled the Bilks to enjoy more time with their daughter. But if the Government really wants British families to spend more time with their children it will probably have to take the risk of upsetting their employers.