Paternity Leave to be Extended

At present, UK law only provides for two weeks paternity leave paid at the current rate of £112.75 per week. The Government is proposing to extend paid paternity leave to 26 weeks which can be taken during the second 26 weeks of the baby’s life as long as the employee has been continuously employed for 26 weeks at that date.  Presumably, the logic behind this is to ensure that the employee’s partner is not pregnant at the time they joined their new employer. 

However, like most employment law measures these proposals are again inordinately complicated.  It would appear that both the father and mother will have to sign a certificate to state that the man is, in fact, the father.  It also appears that men will only be able to take this leave if their partners have returned to work from maternity leave.

Fortunately, these proposals will not apply to any children born before 5 April 2009.  We promise to keep you updated on progress.