1. Who’s holding the baby? Changes to Paternity Leave in April 2011
Having a new baby is a joy but it also carries responsibilities, and in employment terms these are
undergoing significant changes. This piece aims to put you in the picture with how the law is changing.
Here are the basics:
There are two types of Paternity Leave: Ordinary and Additional. The right to both is
available to the biological father of a child or the husband, civil partner, or the partner, of
the child’s mother.
Where a couple jointly adopt a child, it is also available to the individual who does not
take Adoption Leave and to the spouse, civil partner or partner of, a child’s adopter.
The definition of “partner” includes same-sex partners.
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To qualify for Paternity Leave, employees must have 26 weeks’ continuous service by the end of the 15
week before the expected birth date (or notified of having been matched with the child in the case of
adoption). The employee must have, or expect to have, responsibility for the child’s upbringing and be
taking the leave to care for the child. It is therefore not available to biological fathers who are not likely to
have parental responsibility for their child. For Additional Paternity Leave, the employee must remain in
continuous employment until the week before the first week of the Leave.
Ordinary Paternity Leave is 1 or 2 weeks’ taken as a single block within 8 weeks of the child’s birth or
adoption, or if the baby is born prematurely the first day of the employee’s partner’s expected week of
childbirth.
This is in addition to their annual holiday entitlement. If the employee is eligible to receive it, payment for
this period is the Statutory Paternity Pay amount of £124.88 per week or at a rate equivalent to 90% of
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their average weekly earnings if this is less than £124.88 per week. (This is increasing to £128.73 from 3
April 2011).
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The right to Additional Paternity Leave is available to parents of children due on or after 3 April 2011 or
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adoptive parents who are notified of having been matched with the child on or after 3 April 2011.
The provisions enable eligible employees to take up to 26 weeks’ Additional Paternity Leave within the
first year of their child’s life or the first year after the child’s placement for adoption, provided always that
the mother or primary adopter has returned to work before using their full entitlement to Maternity Leave
or Adoption Leave.
In normal circumstances, Additional Paternity Leave is available during the second 6 months of the child’s
life or adoption placement, as the first 6 months are preserved for the mother/primary adopter to take their
Maternity/Adoption Leave.
The earliest Additional Paternity Leave may commence is 20 weeks after the date on which the child is
born or 20 weeks after the date of placement of the child for adoption and it must end no later than 12
© Su Allen HR 2011

2. months after that date. It must be taken as a single block in multiples of complete weeks, with a minimum
period of 2 consecutive weeks and a maximum period of 26 weeks.
To request Additional Paternity Leave, employees must provide 8 weeks’ written notice of the date on
which they wish the Leave to commence. They must also specify the date the child was expected to be
born and the actual date of birth, or the date on which they were notified of having been matched with a
child and the date of placement for adoption. In addition, and not less than 8 weeks before their proposed
start date, they must submit a written and signed self-certification form stating that the purpose of the
period of Leave is to care for the child and that they satisfy the relationship eligibility conditions for
Additional Paternity Leave.
Within the same timeframe, the mother/primary adopter must submit a written and signed declaration to
the employee’s employer stating their name, address and national insurance number, the date they
intend to return to work, that the employee satisfies the relationship eligibility conditions, that they consent
to the employer processing the information contained in the declaration and, in the case of a birth child,
the employee is to their knowledge the only person exercising the entitlement to Additional Paternity
Leave in respect of the child.
If you need help in drawing up these forms ask your HR representative. The employee must also, if asked
by the employer, produce a copy of the child’s birth certificate or, in the case of an adopted child,
documents issued by the adoption agency providing its name and address and details of the dates of
being matched with the child and expected placement. In either case, they must also provide the name
and business address of the mother/primary adopter’s employer.
Once an employee has provided proper notification of their intention to take Additional Paternity Leave,
the employer must respond in writing within 28 days confirming the relevant start and end dates. If an
employee subsequently wishes to change the timing they must give 6 weeks’ written notice.
All terms and conditions of the employee’s contract of employment, except remuneration, continue during
Additional Paternity Leave. Instead of normal pay, the employee will usually be entitled to Additional
Statutory Paternity Pay during some of the Additional Paternity Leave period, i.e. if taken during what
would have been the mother’s/primary adopter’s Maternity or Adoption Pay period. The remaining period
of Additional Paternity Leave will be unpaid. An employee on Additional Paternity Leave is able to agree
with their employer that they will work for up to 10 days during the period without that work bringing the
period of Paternity Leave to an end and without loss of a week’s Statutory Paternity Pay. The employer
can also make reasonable contact to help plan their return to work. If an employee wants to return early
from Additional Paternity Leave, they must give the employer at least 6 weeks’ notice of the date of early
return. If they fail to do so, the employer may postpone the return to such a date that will give them 6
weeks’ notice provided that this date is not later than the end of Additional Paternity Leave.
The government is also looking to review shared Parental Leave to see how family-friendly rights can be
made more flexible and it is likely that these changes to Paternity Leave are the just first step in this
process.
Lorraine Swain – Su Allen HR
© Su Allen HR 2011