Parental Leave Policy

We have recently drawn this policy to cover all important legislative changes.

An Employee who has been in continuous service for at least a year and who has: (i) a child under 5 years old; (ii) a child under 18 years old who was adopted in the last 5 years; or, (iii) a disabled child under 18 years old, is entitled to take up to 13 weeks Parental Leave provided that they have (or expect to have) parental responsibility for that child.

If the child in question is entitled to receive disability living allowance then the period of Parental Leave is 18 weeks.

Parental leave allows employees to look after the welfare of their child. The employment rights of the employee are safe during parental leave. Parental leave is usually unpaid and available to the employees who have completed one year's service with an employer. Employees are entitled to 18 weeks unpaid parental leave for each child born or adopted.

Parental Leave can only be taken in order to care of a child; this includes making arrangements for the child.

The employee must give at least 21 days written notice to the employer if they wish to take Parental Leave; this notice must include the date that the employee intends for the Parental Leave to end.

During Parental Leave the employee’s Contract of Employment continues as if they were still physically at work and the employee must continue to benefit from their Statutory Employment rights, including the accrual of Annual Leave entitlement. The employee must also be kept informed of important matters such as promotion opportunities, redundancy situations and any proposed changes to their job.

This Parental Leave Policy is in Microsoft Word format, written in plain English, easy to use and edit.