Parental leave

Who can take parental leave?

If you have parental responsibility for a child under five or a disabled child under 18, you may be able to take parental leave in order to care for your child. To be eligible, you will need to have the minimum of one year’s continuous service with your employer.

You can take 13 weeks’ parental leave for each child and the leave is usually unpaid. Leave must be taken in blocks of one week, based on your usual working pattern. Furthermore, you can only take four weeks’ leave a year for each child. Therefore, parental leave cannot be used to facilitate working part-time.

Requesting parental leave

There is no set procedure for arranging parental leave. You can also take parental leave straight after maternity or paternity leave. Requests for parental leave because of the birth of a child cannot be refused. Other requests for parental leave can be postponed by your employer for up to six months if they can show that the business will be unduly disrupted if taken for the period requested.

If your employer does not permit you to take parental leave, or is unreasonable in postponing your leave, we can advise you on raising a grievance or, should it prove necessary, making a complaint to the Employment Tribunal.

An employer should also allow you to have reasonable unpaid time off to care for dependents in an emergency, such as collecting a sick child from school. However this should only be used for unforeseen events.

Right not to suffer a detriment

If you have taken or seek to take parental leave, you will be protected from victimisation as a result of such leave. Dismissal for a reason connected to parental leave will also be unfair. If you are in any doubt, please contact us for advice.