Employees have a statutory right to maternity, paternity, parental and adoption leave and pay.
Effective from 6 April 2021, statutory maternity/paternity/adoption payment increases to £151.97 per week.
Parents of babies born on or after 3 April 2011 and adoptive parents, who are notified of being matched with a child on or after that date, will be able to make use of the additional paternity leave and pay regulations. These give eligible employees the right to take up to 26 weeks additional paternity leave if the mother or primary adopter returns to work before using up their entire maternity leave entitlement.
Sample letters related to Maternity and the New & Expected Mother Risk Assessment are available in the Downloadable Templates: Family Friendly Policies
Holiday entitlement during Maternity leave
The employee will continue to accrue both statutory and any additional contractual holiday entitlement during both the 26-week ordinary maternity leave period and the 26-week additional maternity leave period.
An employee who has indicated an intention to take maternity leave will be advised before she starts her ordinary maternity leave whether she has any outstanding holiday entitlement. The Employer may:
- require the employee to take any such outstanding holiday before commencing maternity leave; or
- agree in conjunction with the relevant [department manager] that the employee should carry the leave over and take it on return to work after maternity leave; or
- (for holiday entitlement in excess of the statutory minimum) pay the employee for any outstanding holiday leave as if the employee were leaving.
These options will be discussed with the employee prior to the start of maternity leave.
Transfer of Maternity rights to partner
If the employee on maternity leave proposes to return to work by giving proper notification, her spouse, civil partner or partner may be eligible to take additional paternity leave (and additional statutory paternity pay) once she has returned to work.
The earliest that additional paternity leave may commence is 20 weeks after the date on which the child is born and it must end no later than 12 months after the date of birth. The minimum period of additional paternity leave is two consecutive weeks and the maximum period is 26 weeks.
Further details should be obtained from the employee’s spouse's or partner's employer. She will be required to submit a written and signed declaration form to that employer, which may also make additional enquiries of the organisation to verify its employee's entitlement to additional paternity leave and pay.
Antenatal rights for fathers and partners to take time off work
From 1 October 2014 fathers and partners will be entitled to time off to accompany a pregnant woman to an antenatal appointment on up to two occasions. Employees will be eligible to take advantage of the new right straight away without accruing a minimum period of service.
Shared Parental Leave
Shared parental leave is a type of leave that is available to parents with babies due on or after 5 April 2015. Shared parental leave enables mothers to commit to ending their maternity leave and pay at a future date, and to share the untaken balance of leave and pay as shared parental leave and pay with their partner, or to return to work early from maternity leave and opt in to shared parental leave and pay at a later date.
For Shared Parental leave Policy, related forms and notices required from Parents please go to the Downloadable Templates: Family Friendly Policies.
Forms and notices required from parents are:
Further reading is available from:
https://www.acas.org.uk/maternity-paternity-and-adoption-leave-and-pay