Employment Law – Working Parents

Working parents can have a number of statutory rights designed to help them balance employment with caring responsibilities.

Depending on the circumstances, these can include rights relating to:

• Flexible working
• Paternity leave
• Statutory Paternity Pay
• Unpaid parental leave
• Shared Parental Leave and Pay
• Antenatal appointments
• Time off for dependants
• Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave
• Neonatal Care Leave and Pay

Different rights have different eligibility, notice and pay requirements.

Some are available from the first day of employment, while statutory pay may still depend on earnings and length of service.

Right to Request Flexible Working

The right to request flexible working is no longer restricted to parents or carers.

Every employee has a statutory right to request Flexible Working from the first day of employment.

A flexible working request can seek changes to:

• Working hours
• Working times
• Working days
• Place of work

Examples can include:

• Part-time working
• Different start and finish times
• Compressed hours
• Hybrid working
• Home working
• Job sharing

An employee can currently make up to:

2 statutory flexible working requests in any 12-month period

Only one statutory request can normally be live with the same employer at any one time.

Does My Employer Have to Agree to Flexible Working?

No.

The current statutory right is a right to request, rather than an automatic right to have the working arrangement requested.

However, the employer must deal with the request reasonably.

Before rejecting a statutory request, the employer must consult with the employee.

The employer must normally reach its decision within:

2 months

unless a longer period is agreed.

Why Can a Flexible Working Request Be Refused?

Under the current statutory regime, an employer can refuse a request for one or more specified business reasons.

These include:

• Burden of additional costs
• Detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
• Inability to reorganise work among existing staff
• Inability to recruit additional staff
• Detrimental impact on quality
• Detrimental impact on performance
• Insufficient work during the periods the employee proposes to work
• Planned structural changes

The employer should explain the relevant reason when refusing a request.

Further reforms to the reasonableness requirements for flexible working are expected in 2027, but those reforms are not yet the current law as at 10 September 2026.

Paternity Leave

From 6 April 2026, statutory Paternity Leave became a day-one employment right.

This means an eligible employee no longer needs 26 weeks' service before becoming entitled to the leave itself.

To qualify, you must generally:

• Have employee status
• Have the required relationship with the child or parent
• Be taking the leave to care for the child or support your partner
• Give the required notice

Depending on the circumstances, the right can apply where you are:

• The child's father
• The husband or civil partner of the mother or adopter
• The mother's or adopter's partner
• An adopter
• An intended parent in a qualifying surrogacy arrangement

Same-sex partners can qualify.

How Much Paternity Leave Can I Take?

Eligible employees can take up to:

2 weeks' Paternity Leave

You can take:

• 1 week only
• 2 consecutive weeks
• 2 separate blocks of one week

You do not have to take both weeks together.

This is a significant change from older rules under which the two weeks generally had to be consecutive.

The entitlement remains the same where more than one child is born from the same pregnancy, such as twins.

A statutory week of Paternity Leave reflects the number of days you normally work during a week.

When Can I Take Paternity Leave?

For a birth, Paternity Leave cannot begin before the child is born.

It must generally be completed within:

52 weeks of the child's birth

If the baby is born early, the relevant period can run by reference to the expected due date.

Different timing provisions apply to adoption.

From 6 April 2026, eligible fathers and partners can also take Paternity Leave and Pay after Shared Parental Leave and Pay.

This reversed the previous restriction which could prevent Paternity Leave being taken after Shared Parental Leave.

What Notice Must I Give for Paternity Leave?

For babies due on or after 26 July 2026, the normal current notice requirements apply.

For a birth, you should generally tell your employer the expected due date at least:

15 weeks before the baby is expected

You should then normally give at least:

28 days' notice

of:

• When you want the leave to start
• Whether you intend to take 1 or 2 weeks

Different notice arrangements apply to adoption.

There were temporary transitional notice rules for certain employees affected by the April 2026 day-one reform whose babies were due earlier in 2026, but those transitional arrangements should not be treated as the standard ongoing rule.

Statutory Paternity Pay

The fact that Paternity Leave is now a day-one right does not mean that Statutory Paternity Pay is also a day-one entitlement.

The qualifying-service requirement for Statutory Paternity Pay remains.

For a birth, you will generally need to:

• Have been continuously employed by the employer for at least 26 weeks by the qualifying week
• Remain employed by that employer up to the child's birth
• Have average weekly earnings of at least £129
• Have the required relationship with the child or parent
• Be taking time off to care for the child or support your partner
• Give the correct notice

The qualifying week is generally the:

15th week before the expected week of childbirth

Different qualifying rules apply to adoption.

How Much is Statutory Paternity Pay?

For the 2026/27 tax year, Statutory Paternity Pay is the lower of:

£194.32 per week

or

90% of your average weekly earnings

An employer may provide enhanced contractual paternity pay which is more generous than the statutory minimum.

What Happens to My Contract During Paternity Leave?

Most contractual rights continue during statutory Paternity Leave.

This can include rights relating to:

• Holiday accrual
• Seniority
• Pay rises
• Other applicable contractual benefits

The main exception is the right to your normal remuneration, which is generally replaced by:

• Statutory Paternity Pay where eligible
• Any enhanced contractual paternity pay provided by the employer

Your continuity of employment is preserved.

Do I Have the Right to Return to the Same Job?

Following ordinary Paternity Leave on its own, an employee will generally have the right to return to the same job.

Where Paternity Leave is combined with other types of statutory family leave, the precise return-to-work rules can depend on:

• What leave was taken
• How much leave was taken
• The order in which different types of leave were taken

The statutory rules should therefore be checked where several types of family leave are being combined.

Can I Be Penalised for Taking Paternity Leave?

Employees have statutory protection from detrimental treatment and dismissal because they:

• Took Paternity Leave
• Sought to take Paternity Leave
• Exercised relevant statutory paternity rights

For example, an employer should not lawfully:

• Discipline you simply for taking qualifying leave
• Deny promotion because you took the leave
• Dismiss you because you exercised the statutory right

Dismissal for a prohibited family-leave reason can amount to automatically unfair dismissal without the ordinary qualifying-service requirement.

For further guidance, see Unfair Dismissal.

Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave

A new statutory right called Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave came into force on:

6 April 2026

It applies in England, Scotland and Wales.

The right is designed to support an eligible father or partner where the child's:

• Mother
• Main adopter
• Main intended parent

dies during the child's first year or first year following the relevant adoption event.

Who Can Qualify?

The employee must generally be:

• The child's father
• The spouse or partner of the mother
• The spouse or partner of the main adopter
• The spouse or partner of the main intended parent in a qualifying surrogacy arrangement

The employee must also normally:

• Have the main caring responsibility for the child
• Take the leave to care for the child
• Have employee status

It is a day-one right.

There is no minimum service requirement and no minimum earnings requirement for the leave itself.

How Much Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave Can I Take?

Depending on when the death occurs, an eligible employee can take up to:

52 weeks of unpaid leave

The leave must generally be taken as one continuous block.

It can begin from the day after the death.

For a birth, it will normally need to finish by the child's first birthday.

Equivalent one-year limits apply to relevant adoption arrangements.

The actual amount available therefore depends on when the bereavement occurs.

Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave is unpaid by statute, although an employer can choose to provide contractual pay.

It can also be taken before or after other qualifying forms of parental leave.

Unpaid Parental Leave

Eligible employees can take statutory unpaid parental leave to care for a child.

From 6 April 2026, this also became a day-one right.

There is therefore no longer a one-year qualifying-service requirement.

An eligible employee can generally take up to:

18 weeks of unpaid parental leave for each child

The entitlement can normally be used until the child's:

18th birthday

The entitlement relates to each child rather than each employment.

This means parental leave already taken for the same child with a previous employer can count towards the overall 18-week entitlement.

How Can Unpaid Parental Leave Be Taken?

Unless the employer agrees more generous arrangements, an employee can generally take no more than:

4 weeks for each child in a 12-month period

Leave will normally need to be taken in whole weeks.

Different arrangements can apply where:

• The child is disabled
• The employer agrees to allow individual days

Employees do not have to use all 18 weeks at once.

What Notice is Required for Parental Leave?

You should generally give at least:

21 days' notice

of the intended start date.

Where you want parental leave to begin immediately following birth or adoption, special notice rules apply by reference to the expected week of birth or placement.

Can My Employer Postpone Parental Leave?

Potentially.

An employer cannot simply cancel the statutory entitlement, but it can postpone requested parental leave in certain circumstances where taking it at the proposed time would cause significant business disruption.

If the employer postpones the leave, it must generally:

• Explain the reason in writing
• Do so within 7 days of the request
• Propose another start date
• Ensure the alternative date is within 6 months of the requested start date

An employer cannot postpone statutory parental leave in some circumstances, including where it is being taken by the father or partner immediately following the birth or adoption of a child.

It also cannot postpone the leave so far that the employee would lose the entitlement because the child has reached the age limit.

Time Off to Attend Antenatal Appointments

A qualifying employee can have a statutory right to unpaid time off to accompany a pregnant person to antenatal appointments.

The right can apply where you are:

• The baby's father
• The pregnant person's spouse
• The pregnant person's civil partner
• The pregnant person's partner in an enduring family relationship
• An intended parent in a qualifying surrogacy arrangement

There is no ordinary qualifying-service period for an employee exercising this right.

How Many Antenatal Appointments Can I Attend?

A qualifying employee can take unpaid time off to accompany the pregnant person to up to:

2 antenatal appointments

The statutory maximum for each appointment is:

6.5 hours

This includes associated travelling and waiting time.

An employer can choose to provide:

• More appointments
• Longer time
• Paid time off

under its own policies.

The pregnant employee herself has a separate statutory right to reasonable paid time off for qualifying antenatal care.

Agency workers are subject to separate rules and can acquire antenatal appointment rights after satisfying the applicable qualifying period.

Can I Be Penalised for Attending an Antenatal Appointment?

Employees have statutory protection in relation to qualifying requests for antenatal time off.

Depending on what happens, potential rights can arise where an employer:

• Unreasonably refuses qualifying time off
• Subjects the employee to a detriment
• Dismisses the employee because they exercised the statutory right

A serious dispute should be considered under the specific statutory protection rather than assuming that every refusal automatically amounts to constructive dismissal.

Shared Parental Leave

Shared Parental Leave allows eligible parents to share some of the leave that would otherwise be available as maternity or adoption leave.

Up to:

50 weeks of leave

can potentially be shared.

The actual amount available depends on how much maternity or adoption leave has already been used.

For Shared Parental Leave to become available, the birth parent or primary adopter must normally:

• End their maternity or adoption leave early
• Give binding notice that the leave will end on a specified date

The statutory compulsory maternity period cannot be converted into Shared Parental Leave.

Who Qualifies for Shared Parental Leave?

Eligibility can be complex.

The parent who wants to take Shared Parental Leave will generally need to:

• Share responsibility for the child
• Have employee status
• Have at least 26 weeks' continuous employment with the same employer by the relevant qualifying point
• Remain employed by that employer before the relevant block of Shared Parental Leave starts
• Give the required notices

For a birth, the continuity test generally looks at employment by the end of the:

15th week before the baby is due

The other parent must normally satisfy a separate employment and earnings test.

Broadly, this requires the other parent to have:

• Worked for at least 26 weeks during the relevant 66-week period
• Earned at least £390 in total across any 13 weeks of that period

The detailed rules differ depending on which parent is claiming leave or pay and whether the arrangement involves:

• Birth
• Adoption
• Surrogacy

Shared Parental Pay

Eligible parents can share up to:

37 weeks of statutory pay

less any maternity or adoption pay or Maternity Allowance already used.

For the 2026/27 tax year, Statutory Shared Parental Pay is the lower of:

£194.32 per week

or

90% of average weekly earnings

The parent claiming Statutory Shared Parental Pay will generally need average weekly earnings of at least:

£129

and must satisfy the applicable employment and eligibility tests.

The parent must also give the correct statutory notices.

For Shared Parental Leave or Pay, at least:

8 weeks' written notice

of intended leave dates will normally be required.

Can I Take Paternity Leave After Shared Parental Leave?

Yes.

From 6 April 2026, eligible fathers and partners can take statutory Paternity Leave and Pay after Shared Parental Leave and Pay.

This is an important change from the previous rules.

The employee must still satisfy the separate eligibility requirements for:

• Paternity Leave
• Statutory Paternity Pay

What Happens if I Am Made Redundant Before Shared Parental Leave Starts?

To take a block of Shared Parental Leave, you must generally still be employed by the relevant employer before that block starts.

If your employment ends before the leave begins, you will therefore usually lose the ability to take that block of statutory Shared Parental Leave from that employer.

The position concerning Statutory Shared Parental Pay can be different and depends on whether the statutory pay entitlement has already been established and the circumstances in which employment ends.

What if I Am Made Redundant During Shared Parental Leave?

Your statutory Shared Parental Leave ends when your employment ends.

However, you may still remain entitled to qualifying Statutory Shared Parental Pay after termination, subject to the applicable statutory rules.

Contractual or enhanced Shared Parental Pay may end when employment ends unless:

• The Contract provides otherwise
• The Employer agrees otherwise
• Different terms are negotiated as part of the redundancy package

An employer must not select an employee for redundancy because they:

• Took Shared Parental Leave
• Intended to take Shared Parental Leave
• Exercised statutory rights connected with the leave

Such treatment can potentially result in claims including automatic unfair dismissal.

Do I Get Special Redundancy Protection During Shared Parental Leave?

Yes, in qualifying circumstances.

Employees taking Shared Parental Leave can have priority rights concerning suitable alternative vacancies if their existing role becomes redundant.

The length of the protected period depends partly on how much Shared Parental Leave is taken.

Where an employee takes less than:

6 consecutive weeks

of Shared Parental Leave, the protected period will generally end when that block of leave ends.

Where an employee takes at least:

6 consecutive weeks

of Shared Parental Leave, the protected period can generally continue until:

18 months from the child's birth or relevant adoption date

subject to the detailed statutory rules.

This protection does not mean that the employee can never be selected for redundancy.

It gives priority in relation to a suitable available alternative vacancy where the statutory requirements are satisfied.

For further information, see Redundancy.

Time Off for Dependants

All employees have a statutory right to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off to deal with certain unexpected situations involving a dependant.

This is a day-one right.

A dependant can include:

• Your spouse
• Your civil partner
• Your partner
• Your child
• Your parent
• Someone living in your household in qualifying circumstances
• Someone who reasonably relies on you for care or assistance

The person does not necessarily have to be your child or another close relative.

What Counts as an Emergency Involving a Dependant?

The right can apply where you need to take necessary action because:

• A dependant becomes ill
• A dependant is injured
• A dependant is assaulted
• A dependant unexpectedly goes into labour and needs your assistance
• Normal care arrangements unexpectedly break down
• A child is involved in an unexpected incident at school
• A dependant dies

For example, if your child unexpectedly becomes ill, you might take time off to:

• Collect them
• Take them to a doctor
• Arrange alternative care

The right is primarily intended to deal with the immediate unexpected situation.

If you then need to remain off work for a longer period to provide continuing care, another type of leave may be more appropriate.

This could include:

• Unpaid parental leave
• Annual leave
• Carer's Leave where the statutory requirements are satisfied
• Contractual family or compassionate leave

How Much Time Off Can I Take for a Dependant?

There is no fixed statutory number of days.

You are entitled to a reasonable amount of time depending on the circumstances.

There is also no statutory rule limiting the number of separate emergencies that can arise.

What is reasonable will depend on matters such as:

• Nature of the emergency
• Care required
• Available arrangements
• Time reasonably needed to deal with the immediate problem

There is no automatic rule that one parent must deal with an emergency simply because the other parent has previously taken time off.

Each situation should be considered on its own facts.

Do I Have to Ask Permission First?

You should tell your employer:

• The reason for your absence
• How long you expect to be away

as soon as reasonably practicable.

Because the right concerns unexpected circumstances, it may not always be possible to give advance notice.

You are exercising a statutory right rather than simply asking your employer for discretionary holiday, provided the legal requirements are satisfied.

Is Time Off for Dependants Paid?

There is no general statutory right to be paid for this type of emergency leave.

Your employer may nevertheless provide paid leave under:

• Your contract
• A workplace policy
• A compassionate leave scheme

What if I Normally Work From Home?

Working from home does not remove your statutory right to take qualifying time off for dependants.

An employee should not automatically be expected to carry out a normal working day while simultaneously providing emergency care simply because their normal workplace is their home.

Whether you can perform some work will depend on the actual circumstances and what you agree with your employer.

Likewise, an employee who works on-site or in a customer-facing role has the same statutory right where the legal conditions are satisfied.

Can I Be Disciplined for Taking Time Off for Dependants?

An employer must not subject you to a detriment because you reasonably took or sought qualifying statutory time off for dependants.

A detriment could potentially include:

• Unjustified disciplinary action
• Denial of promotion
• Denial of training
• Reduction in opportunities
• Other disadvantage because you exercised the right

An employer can still investigate where it genuinely believes that:

• The absence did not involve a qualifying emergency
• The amount of time taken was not reasonable
• The employee did not notify the employer as soon as reasonably practicable

The existence of the statutory right does not prevent legitimate investigation, but the employee must not be penalised simply for properly exercising it.

What if I Am Dismissed for Taking Time Off for Dependants?

If the reason or principal reason for dismissal is that you:

• Took qualifying time off for dependants
• Sought to take qualifying time off

the dismissal can amount to automatically unfair dismissal.

There is no ordinary minimum qualifying-service requirement for this protection.

For further guidance, see Unfair Dismissal.

Neonatal Care Leave and Pay

Working parents may also have additional rights where a newborn baby requires neonatal care.

For babies born on or after 6 April 2025, eligible employees can take statutory Neonatal Care Leave where the statutory conditions are met.

The baby must generally:

• Enter qualifying neonatal care within the first 28 days after birth
• Receive at least 7 full and continuous days of neonatal care

An eligible employee receives:

1 week of Neonatal Care Leave for every 7 full continuous days of qualifying neonatal care

up to a maximum of:

12 weeks

Neonatal Care Leave is a day-one employment right.

It is additional to other statutory family leave and must generally be used within:

68 weeks of the child's birth

Is Neonatal Care Leave Paid?

Leave and pay have different eligibility tests.

To qualify for Statutory Neonatal Care Pay, the parent will generally need:

• 26 weeks' continuous employment by the relevant qualifying point
• Average weekly earnings of at least £129
• To satisfy the other statutory eligibility requirements

For the 2026/27 tax year, statutory Neonatal Care Pay is the lower of:

£194.32 per week

or

90% of average weekly earnings

Working Parents – Different Rights Have Different Tests

It is important not to assume that qualifying for one type of family leave means you automatically qualify for every other form of leave or pay.

For example:

• Paternity Leave is now a day-one right
• Statutory Paternity Pay still normally requires 26 weeks' qualifying service
• Unpaid Parental Leave is now a day-one right
• Shared Parental Leave retains its own continuity test
• Emergency time off for dependants is a day-one right
• Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave is a day-one unpaid right
• Neonatal Care Leave is a day-one right but statutory pay has separate service and earnings requirements

Your employment contract may also provide rights that are more generous than the statutory minimum.

Where several different forms of family leave may apply, it is important to consider the order in which they are taken and the separate eligibility and notice requirements for each.