The Parent’s Leave provides now since 1st April 2021parents with an additional right to leave of 5 weeks unpaid leave for each parent. This leave is in addition to maternity, adoptive, paternity and parental leave. The parent is able to take Parent’s leave during the first 2 years of the child’s life. The employee Parent can take the leave as 5 weeks together or separate weeks of leave.
Who can take this leave?
The right to take this Parent’s Leave only applies to children born or adopted from 1 November 2019. This leave is in addition to maternity, adoptive, paternity and parental leave. The right applies to ‘relevant parents’ under the Act and includes:
- A parent of a child, a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the parent of a child
- A parent of a donor-conceived child
- An adopting parent or parents of a child
- The spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the adopting parent, and
- In joint adoptions, each member of a married couple of the same sex, a couple that are civil partners of each other, or a cohabiting couple of the same sex
When can this leave be taken?
Employees can take parent’s leave within the first year of the child’s birth or adoption placement but not before. The leave can be taken in either five weeks as a continuous period or separate weeks of leave. Parent’s leave can only be taken after any period of maternity or adoptive leave has expired.
Payment during the Parent’s leave
The company does not pay during this Parent’s leave. However, in line with ordinary maternity, ordinary adoptive and paternity leave, employees on parent’s leave will be entitled to a State benefit.
Annual Leave
An employee accrues annual leave during parent’s leave as though the absence has been worked.
How can you take this leave?
The employee must give their employer six weeks’ notice in writing of the proposed dates on which they wish to take parent’s leave. An employer may postpone the leave for up to 12 weeks in limited circumstances. For example, the leave may be postponed for seasonal variations in the volume of work concerned and the number of other employees also taking parent’s leave. An employee can postpone parent’s leave if their child is in hospital, provided that it is taken within seven days of the discharge of the child from hospital, or another date on agreement.
Parent’s leave is not transferable between parents unless there is a death of one parent. Please note that a parent cannot benefit from more than one allowance of parent’s benefit in the case of multiple births or adoption of children simultaneously.
There are now a number of leaves related to the employee’s children and as the number of leaves are confusing I have inserted this table to give an overview
This table explains the differences between the types of statutory leaves for parents.
| Leave | Who gets it? | How long? | Is it paid? |
| Maternity leave | Female employees | 26 weeks and up to 16 unpaid weeks | Yes, Maternity Benefit is paid for 26 weeks |
| Adoptive leave | Adoptive mothers, Men adopting alone | 24 weeks and up to 16 unpaid weeks | Yes, Adoptive Benefit is paid for 24 weeks |
| Paternity leave | New parents of children under 6 months of age (but not the mother of the child) | 2 weeks | Yes, Paternity Benefit is paid for 2 weeks |
| Parental leave | Parents and guardians of children under 12 | 26 weeks | No, it’s unpaid |
| Parent’s leave | Parents of children under 1 year of age Parents of adopted children in the first year of the placement of the child This will increase to 2 years from April 2021 | 5 weeks from April 2021 | Yes, Parent’s Benefit is paid for 5 weeks |