On the first anniversary of a revolutionary policy that gives men the opportunity to care full time for their new baby, a new study reveals that just 1% of men have so far taken up the opportunity to do so.

Shared Parental Leave (SPL) was introduced in April 2015 so that new parents could share statutory leave and pay on the birth of a child. It was designed to enable new dads to take a greater share of childcare and new mums to return to their careers earlier if they wanted to.

But the new survey – of over 1000 parents and 200 businesses by My Family Care and the Women’s Business Council – found that just 1 in 100 men are applying for it. Reasons for the reluctance include it being ‘financially unworkable ’, ‘a lack of awareness,’ and ‘women (55%) refusing to share their maternity leave.’