Leave relating to parenthood

Time off for family and dependants

Employees can take time off to deal with an emergency affecting a family member or dependant, such as an illness. Employers should allow the individual to take off a reasonable amount of time to deal with the issue.  The employer is not required to pay employees in such situations, but it is recommended that the rules and procedures associated with taking time off for family and dependants is clearly outlined within the employment handbook.

What is Parental Leave?

Some employees, if eligible, will be entitled to parental leave. Parental leave is time off unpaid to look after the welfare of a child. Eligible individuals are entitled to 18 weeks’ leave for each child up to their 18th Birthday. In any one year, the limit is 4 weeks for each child. Parental Leave must be taken in weeks not days.

What is Maternity Leave?

Maternity leave refers to the legal protection given to a mother immediately after she gives birth.

Statutory Maternity Leave

Eligible employees can take up to 52 weeks’ maternity leave regardless of how long they have been employed for. The first 26 weeks is known as ‘ordinary maternity leave’, the last 26 weeks as ‘additional maternity leave’. Employees must take a minimum of two weeks off after the birth of their baby and if they work in a factory a minimum of four weeks must be taken.

Statutory Maternity Pay

Eligible employees can receive statutory maternity pay for up to 39 weeks, it is often split in the following way:

• • the first 6 weeks: 90% of their average weekly earnings (AWE) before tax
    
    
  • the remaining 33 weeks: £145.18 or 90% of their AWE (whichever is lower)

Some employers will produce their own maternity scheme, if this is the case it is essential that you make sure your maternity leave and pay policies are clear and available to all employees. There are lots of legalities surrounding maternity leave and employees are able to make claims to the Employment Tribunal if they feel they have been discriminated against or treated unfairly.

The Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave, and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 – 6^th April 2024

New regulations bringing into effect the extension to the existing period of redundancy protection applying to employees during family-related leave have taken effect from 6 April 2024.

Parents taking a period of maternity leave, adoption leave, or shared parental leave have the right to be offered any suitable alternative employment during a redundancy situation, in priority to any others at risk of redundancy.

As a result of the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023, this protection is extended to apply during pregnancy, and for a period of 18 months after birth or placement for adoption for those taking maternity, adoption or shared parental leave. This means that for an employee taking 12 months’ maternity leave, the protection will continue to apply for six months after their return to work.

Protection will cover a period of pregnancy, if the employer is informed of the pregnancy on or after 6 April 2024. It starts when the employee informs their employer about the pregnancy.

The protection will apply to maternity and adoption leave ending on or after 6 April 2024, and to shared parental leave starting on or after 6 April 2024. Note that for protection to apply after shared parental leave, there is a minimum threshold of six weeks’ continuous leave.

What is Paternity Leave?

Paternity leave refers to the legal protection given to a father following the birth of their child by the mother.

Statutory Paternity Leave            

The Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 make the following changes and the Regulations are stated to apply in all cases where the EWC is on, or after, 6 April 2024:

• employees will be able to take their two-week paternity leave entitlement as two separate one-week blocks rather than taking just one week in total or two consecutive weeks.

• employees will be able to take paternity leave at any time in the 52 weeks after birth - rather than having to take leave in the 56 days following birth.

• employees will only need to give 28 days’ notice of their intention to take paternity leave which is reduced from the previous position that required notice to be given 15 weeks before the Expected Week of Childbirth.

 

Statutory Paternity Pay

Statutory Paternity Pay for eligible employees is either £184.03 a week of 90% of the individual’s average weekly earnings (whichever is lower).

 

What is Shared Parental Leave?

Employees may be able to get Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) after the birth of their baby.

Employees can take Shared Parental Leave in up to 3 separate blocks. Parents can choose how much of the Shared Parental Leave each of them will take but it must be taken between the baby’s birth and first birthday.

Absence requests relating to childcare arrangements must be dealt with correctly to avoid any claims of discrimination of unfair treatment.  If you have any concerns relating to Parental leave it is recommended that employers seek professional legal advice to ensure they are following the correct protocol and are not at risk of doing anything incorrectly.

 

Our employment team is able to provide the appropriate advice and guidance in relation to Parental Leave to ensure you are compliant. They offer no-obligation initial appointments and can meet you at our office locations in Market Harborough or Leicester.  You can contact the team directly by calling us on 0116 212 1000, alternatively complete our online contact form.