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Paternity Leave – what do we already know?

Currently fathers (including the mother’s husband, partner or civil partner who are responsible for the child’s upbringing) are entitled to two weeks Paternity Leave if they:

  • Have been employed for 26 weeks by the by the 15th week before the Expected Week of Childbirth (EWC) or week of adoption (known as the ‘qualifying week’);
  • Take the time off to care for the child or support the mother and the employee; and
  • Give the correct amount of notice (during the qualifying week and 28 days’ notice of the specific dates they want to take off).

Also, if the child  sadly dies, they are entitled to two weeks Parental Bereavement Leave (if the child is under 18, including stillbirths after 24 weeks of pregnancy). This is a ‘day one’ right (i.e. there is no qualifying service requirement) to be taken within 56 weeks of the child’s death.

What’s new?

Unfortunately Paternity and Parental Bereavement Leave (outlined above) do not help the father if it is the mother who dies.

The father would only be entitled to Paternity Leave if they had been employed for 26 weeks by the qualifying week. It also requires over three weeks notice – not much help for a dad who needs to take over in an emergency. There is also the option of Parental Leave (four weeks leave per year per child) but this is unpaid and again, requires notice.

Worse still, in the painful circumstances that both child and the mother die there would be no child to look after and no mother to support. The father would have no entitlement to Paternity Leave and would be limited to just the two weeks Parental Bereavement Leave.

The new Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act (which rapidly received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024 after the election campaigning started) aims to put this right. It will:

  • Give fathers a day one right to two weeks paternity leave if the mother (and child) dies.
  • Where the child survives, likely increase the amount of leave available from two to 52 weeks during the first year of their life, or from the day on which the mother died (according to  debate at the time in Parliament).
  • Allow them to take ‘keeping-in-touch days’ (KIT days) without bringing their period of leave to an end.

It is not yet clear when the regulations required to bring this Act into force will be put in place. In practice, this means that the Act will need to be implemented at some point by our new Government.

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