You are entitled to 18 weeks unpaid parental leave for each child or adopted child up to their 18th birthday. You can take up to 4 weeks per year for each child. You must take parental leave in full week increments rather than as individual days. You must give 21 days notice. Your employment rights are protected during parental leave.

You qualify for parental leave if:

• The child is under 18

• You are named on the birth or adoption certificate or you are expected to have parental responsibility (this excludes most foster parents)

• You have worked for the company for more than a year

• You are not self-employed or working on an agency/contract basis

Employers can:

• Ask for evidence

• Have discretion if you do not meet these criteria

You are eligible for unpaid parental leave to support the welfare of your child by:

• spending more time with their children

• looking at new schools

• settling children into new childcare arrangements

• spending more time with family, such as visiting grandparents

More information on the gov website here

Maternity Pay

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid for 39 weeks:

• 90% of your ave weekly earnings for the first 6 weeks

• £151.97 or 90% of your ave weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for the next 33 weeks

Use the Maternity pay eligibility caluclator on the gov website here

Use the Maternity.Money pay calculator to work out your monthly take home.

Antenatal appointments

You can take unpaid leave to accompany a pregnant woman to two appointments if you are:

• The father

• The spouse or civil partner

• In a long term relationship with the mother

• The intended parent (surrogacy)

Paternity leave is taken by the second parent in addition to maternity leave. You can choose either 1 or 2 weeks, but you must take it all in one go. Paternity leave cannot start before the birth and must end within 56 days of the due date or birth, whichever is later. You still accrue your holiday entitlement while you are on paternity leave. More information on the gov website here

Paternity pay is £151.97 or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. If you have already taken paid leave for adoption appointments you cannot claim paternity pay as well.

Eligibility

Individuals eligible for paternity leave:

• The father

• The husband or partner of the mother (including same sex partners)

• The adopter

• The intended parent (surrogacy)

To be eligible for paternity pay you must:

• Be employed by your employer up to the date of the birth

• Earn at least £120 a week

• Have worked for your employer for at least 26 weeks before the 15th week preceding the due date

• Give 28 days’ notice, including if you intend to change the date your leave starts*

*You do not have to give a precise date when you want to take leave, instead you can give a general time such as the day of the birth or 1 week after.

You are entitled to shared parental leave if:

• You are having a baby

• You used a surrogate to have a baby

• You are adopting a child

• You are fostering a child who you are planning to adopt

Instead of separating maternity and paternity leave, you and your partner can choose to share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay between you. All shared parental leave must be taken in the first year after the child is born or placed with the family.

Shared Parental leave is paid at £151.97 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. Gov link explaining pay

You can take shared parental leave in blocks separated by periods of work or take it all in one go. Both parents can take their time off together or they can stagger the leave and pay.

You still accrue your holiday entitlement while you are on shared parental leave.

This is a really helpful article on shared Parental leave from working families.org.

An example of how you might share parental leave from the article above:

More information on the gov website here

Gov shared parental leave and pay calculator

You qualify for adoption leave when you take time off to adopt a child or have a child through surrogacy. Only one person in a couple can take adoption leave – the other partner could apply for paternity leave instead, or you may be entitled to shared parental leave and pay.

Statutory Adoption Leave is 52 weeks. It’s made up of:

• 26 weeks of Ordinary Adoption Leave

• 26 weeks of Additional Adoption Leave

Your employment rights are protected whilst on statutory adoption leave. This includes pay rises, accruing holiday and return to work.

More information on the gov website here

Miscarriage and Stillbirth

If you experience a miscarriage, you will not be entitled to maternity leave, shared parental leave, and your partner will not be entitled to paternity leave. You are, however, entitled to sick leave/pay and compassionate leave/pay, at the discretion of your employer and in line with the company policies.

If you experience a stillbirth or if your baby was born alive at any point, you are eligible for maternity and paternity leave/pay.

Parental Bereavement Leave

You have the right to take up to two weeks paid leave following the death of a child. This includes a child under the age of 18 or one who is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy.

You’ll be able to get either £151.97 a week or 90% of your average weekly pay for up to two weeks.

You must claim this within 28 days of the week(s) taken and within 56 weeks of the death of the child. You must give your employer one weeks notice before you start your leave.

Complete the declaration form here. You may also declare in writing to your employer or use their own format.

• If more than one child dies you are entitled to two weeks for each child.

• You can take your two weeks together or in two separate blocks of one week.

More information on working families.org here

More information on gov website here

If you have lost a child and need help or support that is not employment-rights related, please contact SANDS or Samaritans for help.

 You have the right to return to your job if you take:

• Paternity leave

• Only 26 weeks of maternity or adoption leave

• Only 26 weeks of shared parental leave (between both parents)

• 4 weeks or less of unpaid parental leave

• Parental bereavement leave.

If you are selected for redundancy during your leave, you have the right to be offered a similar position.

You can only be selected for redundancy if the employer can clearly justify doing it – e.g. the business closes.

 If you experience an emergency or unexpected event and you need time off to care for your child, you can ask your employer if you can use:

• Time off for Dependents

  • Dependents can include your spouse, partner, child, parent, or anyone reliant on your care.

  • It can be taken to help someone who is ill or injured, incidents at school, or even to navigate the death of a dependent.

  • This time off is usually unpaid.

• Sick Leave

  • Check your company policy on this as to your rights.

  • You can also look at SSP to check the areas that are covered by law.

  • Check our Sick pay page on the Money Help Hub for more info

• Holiday

  • You can choose to use your allocated paid holiday time