Additional Paternity Leave
Just when you thought the regulations surrounding maternity, paternity and adoption leave couldn’t get more complicated along come the Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010!
Although these Regulations come into force on 6th April 2010 they only relate to parents of babies due on or after 3rd April 2011 so you have a little while to think about it.
Essentially the Regulations give all those currently entitled to paternity leave the right to take up to 26 weeks additional paternity leave which cannot start until 20 weeks after the birth of the baby and must be completed by 52 weeks after the birth of the baby. The leave is subject to a minimum of 2 weeks and must be taken in complete weeks.
The single most important factor is that the mother must have returned to work – this is the maternity leave sharing that so exercised the press last year.
Paternity leave pay maps onto maternity leave pay. So ‘additional paternity leave’ taken between the 20th and 39th week after the birth will effectively be statutory maternity leave pay (currently £124.88 per week). After the 39th week it will be ‘no pay’ as it is for maternity leave but it seems likely that statutory maternity pay will be extended to cover the full 52 weeks when the economy recovers.
Additional paternity leave requires the employee to have 26 weeks continuous service at the relevant point and mother must be entitled to statutory maternity pay/maternity allowance.
Parents will be able to ‘self certify’ although the Regulations give employers and HMRC the right to carry out further checks if necessary.
Don’t forget to bring your staff handbook up to date – Cullen Scholefield can do this for you.
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