Maternity, paternity and adoption - an overview

Parental leave

Employees with at least one year of service are entitled to 13 weeks' unpaid parental leave for each child, which can be taken before their child is five, and if agreed can be added to normal maternity, paternity or adoption leave.

Disabled children

Parents of children entitled to a disability living allowance can take up to 18 weeks unpaid leave at any time up until the child's 18th birthday. This applies irrespective of when the child was born, and the parents can take their leave as single days.

Adopted children

Parents of adopted children are entitled to take 13 weeks' of unpaid parental leave (provided that they have at least one years' service), up to five years following the placement or up to the child's 18th birthday if that is sooner.

Fallback scheme

If you can't reach an alternative formal agreement with employees, the government fallback scheme applies which must be complied with.

Under this scheme:

• Employees can take a maximum of four weeks' leave in any year in respect of any individual child, and only in blocks or multiples of one week - except for parents of disabled children who can take leave in blocks of one day.
• Parents must give you at least 21 days' notice before leave-taking.
• The employer can postpone the leave for up to six months for business reasons. You must write to the employee within seven days of receiving the employee's notification explaining why, but employers can't postpone leave where the employee wants to take it straight after a child is born or placed for adoption.
• This leave entitlement applies per child.

Employees taking parental leave have the right:

• to return to the same job where leave is less than four weeks - if this is not possible, with longer periods, you may offer a job with similar or better terms and conditions
• not to be dismissed for taking parental leave
• to some of their normal terms and conditions, but many contractual rights can be suspended

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• When an employee is pregnant
• Health and safety of new and expectant mothers
• Maternity pay
• Returning to work after maternity leave
• Paternity pay
• Adoption pay
• Maternity, paternity and adoption leave
• Parental leave
• Time off for dependants
• Family-friendly ways of working