Is paternity leave a day-one right?

Family leave rights used to depend on how long you had been with your employer. From 6 April 2026, paternity leave and ordinary (unpaid) parental leave became day-one rights, so a qualifying service requirement can no longer be used to refuse them.

Paternity leave

You can take one or two weeks, and it must be taken within 56 days of the birth. Statutory Paternity Pay is the same flat weekly rate as Statutory Maternity Pay after the first six weeks — £194.32 a week. Many employers enhance this contractually, so check your handbook before assuming the statutory floor is all that is available.

Parental leave, and how it differs

Ordinary parental leave is unpaid time off to look after a child, taken with at least 21 days’ notice. Your employer cannot refuse it where you are eligible and have given proper notice, but it can postpone the dates by up to six months if the business would be unduly disrupted — for example at peak trading. Any postponement must be confirmed in writing with an alternative date offered.

Do not confuse it with time off for dependants, which covers sudden emergencies at no notice, or with carer’s leave, which is up to a week a year for a dependant with long-term care needs.

The wider picture for new parents

• Maternity leave is up to 52 weeks — 26 weeks Ordinary and 26 weeks Additional — regardless of length of service, with Statutory Maternity Pay for up to 39 weeks: 90% of average weekly earnings for six weeks, then £194.32 (or 90% of earnings if lower).
• Shared Parental Leave lets parents share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay, so one parent can return to work early while the other takes over.
• Up to 10 Keeping in Touch days can be worked during maternity leave by agreement, without ending the leave or losing pay for those days.
• Your job is protected: you have the right to return to the same job, or a suitable alternative after the final 26 weeks, and dismissal connected to pregnancy or maternity is automatically unfair.