With effect from April 6th 2026, the updates to paternity and parental leave set out in the Employment Rights Act 2025 (“ERA”) have come into force.
Paternity Leave. What is it?
Paternity leave is a period of 2 weeks’ leave for fathers, non-birthing parents, or someone adopting. It can be taken as a single block of two weeks or as two separate blocks of one week.
What is Changing for Paternity Leave in 2026?
- Previously, paternity leave required employees to have 26 weeks’ continuous service to be eligible for paternity leave. The ERA has removed this requirement; paternity leave is now a day one right. This means that employees can take paternity leave from the first day of employment, provided the qualifying relationship criteria is still met, with that being:
- They’re the biological father of the child; or,
- They’re the spouse, civil partner, or partner (including same sex partner) of the mother or birth parent, the primary adopter, or intended parent in a surrogacy arrangement.
- Previously, there were restrictions on paternity leave being taken with shared parental leave. The ERA has removed these restrictions, and paternity leave may now be taken after shared parental leave has ended.
What about Statutory Paternity Pay?
- Statutory paternity pay (“SPP”) still requires the employee to have a period of continuous service. This is 26 weeks by the end of the qualifying week (the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth).
- The lower earnings limit also applies and employees must have average weekly earnings at or above £129 per week to qualify for SPP.
- The employee must still be employed at the time paternity leave is taken.
- SPP is worked out as being the lower of £194.32 per week, or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings.
For clarity, this means that an employee starting on the day of the birth of the child will be entitled to paternity leave but would not likely be entitled to statutory paternity pay.
Unpaid Parental Leave. What is it?
Unpaid parental leave is leave that a parent can take to care for their child. The amount of leave is 18 weeks per child, which can be taken up until that child turns 18. This leave can be taken in week long blocks, capped at 4 weeks per year for each child.
What is Changing for Unpaid Parental Leave in 2026?
- Previously employees were required to have 12 months of continuous service to be eligible for unpaid parental leave. The ERA has removed this qualifying period and now employees are entitled to take unpaid parental leave from the first day.
What Do These Changes Mean for Employers?
For employers, this means that our employees are now entitled to paternity leave and parental leave from their first day of employment.
It is recommended that employers update their family leave policies to ensure the new updates are included.
This is something which Neathouse Partners can do for our clients.
What next?
There are still some other updates coming into force following the enactment of the ERA. Keep a look out as we will be uploading further updates on these in the future!
For a full comprehensive legal guide to Maternity, Paternity and Shared Parental Leave check out our comprehensive guide here
https://neathousepartners.com/blog/maternity-paternity-parental-leave