Parental leave

Your parental leave entitlement  

Parents who are classed as employees and have worked for their employer for one year or more are entitled to take up to 18 weeks’ parental leave per child up to their 18th birthday.

Parental leave can be taken for any reason, as long as it’s related to the care of your child. Examples of the way it might be used include:

• spending more time with your child in their early years;
• accompanying your child during a stay in hospital;
• looking at new schools;
• settling your child into new childcare arrangements;
• enabling your family to spend more time together. For example, taking them to stay with grandparents.

The leave must be taken in blocks of weeks and you are only allowed to take a maximum of four weeks per year for each child. If you take less than four weeks’ parental leave in one block, you have the legal right to return to your old job. If you take more than four weeks in a block and not combined with other statutory family leave, you are only entitled to return to the job you did before, if it is reasonably practicable. If it isn’t and there have been significant changes to the organisation, your employer must give you a comparable and appropriate job, which must not be on worse terms (ie pay, benefits, holiday entitlement and seniority).

Up until 6 April 2025, you can only take parental leave if you have been continuously employed for a year and have, or expect to have, responsibility for the child. From 6 April 2026, parental leave became a day-one right and you no longer need to have been employed for one year.

‘Responsibility for the child’ is a legal term. You will normally have responsibility for the child if you are the mother of the child or the father of the child and you are either married to the mother of the child or your name appears on the birth certificate of the child, having registered jointly with the mother.

You may also have legally acquired parental responsibility. Check with your UNISON rep if you are unsure. 

Notice requirements

If you are eligible to take parental leave and wish to take it, you must give your employer at least 21 days notice before the date you want to start a block of parental leave. You must also set out the dates you plan to start and finish parental leave. 

Employers cannot refuse or completely cancel parental leave, however they can postpone leave if it is going to cause significant problems at work such as an important deadline coming up which no one else can cover.

Employers can postpone parental leave for up to six months after the date you originally asked for. But if they wish to do this they must write to you within seven days of receiving your request to explain why they need to postpone the leave and to provide other suitable alternative dates after discussing dates with you. The postponement should also not stop you from taking leave before the child’s 18th birthday. 

Special arrangements

Some employers allow flexibility in the way parental leave is taken. You might, therefore, be able to work reduced hours over a given period, for example, without losing any pay. Or your employer may allow you parental leave even though your child is over the statutory age for you to legally qualify.

Check with your UNISON rep whether any special arrangements have been negotiated with your employer. 

Legal disclaimer 

The information contained within this article is not a complete or final statement of the law and is based on the laws of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

While UNISON has sought to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date, it is not responsible and will not be held liable for any inaccuracies and their consequences, including any loss arising from relying on this information. If you are a UNISON member with a legal problem, please contact your branch or region as soon as possible for advice, or for non-employment matters call UNISONdirect.