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The legislation surrounding paternity leave is due to change with the aim of encouraging a greater participation by Dads in child rearing and to allow families greater flexibility in who stays at home with the baby. The Government estimates that 4-5% of Dads will exercise their new right to longer Paternity leave. But what exactly are the changes and how will they affect you?

Currently the law allows Dads (or the partner of the Mum, male or female) to the right of 2 weeks off work, paid at the statutory rate of £123 per week. For those whose babies are born on or after 3rd April 2011 this will change to allow the Dad the right of up to 6 months additional paternity leave.

Sounds great- but where’s the catch?

The additional Paternity leave comes from the Mother forfeiting her right to some or all of the last 26 weeks of her maternity leave and a number of conditions must be satisfied in order to qualify.

Additional Paternity Leave (APL) Eligibility

Must have been continuously employed by the same employer for 26 weeks at the end of the ‘relevant’ week which is the 15th week before the expected week of birth
Must still be employed by the same employer at the start of the additional maternity leave
Must be the father of the child or married to or the civil partner of the mother or adopter of the child
Must have or expect to have the main responsibility for the upbringing of the child (apart from the Mother) i.e. not be out on the golf course while on Paternity leave!!
The Mother must have been entitled to maternity leave, Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) or Maternity Allowance (MA)
Before the Dad can commence his APL the mother must have returned to work (or her SMP or MA must have finished)

So you can tick all the boxes, what do you need to do now to get your leave? Here’s the boring legal mumbo-jumbo.

You must give your employers eight weeks notice, in writing, of your intention to exercise your right to APL and inform them of the expected week of the child’s birth (the due date that was on the MATB1 certificate), actual date of birth and the proposed start and end dates of the leave.

Leave must be taken continuously and has to be a minimum of 2 weeks up to a maximum of 25 weeks. The earliest it can be taken is when the baby is 20 weeks old.

When requesting the leave a declaration must also be included stating:

The purpose of the leave is to care for the child
That he is the husband, partner or civil partner of the mother and that
He expects to have the main responsibility for the upbringing of the child (apart from the Mother)

It must also include a statement from the Mother including:

Her name, address and NI number
The date she intends to return to work (or the date her SMP or MA will expire)
That the employee satisfies the conditions as stated in the leave notice and is to her knowledge the only person claiming APL for the child
Her consent to the processing of her information in the declaration

Your employer has the right to request to see the child’s birth certificate and the details of the Mothers employer or her business address if she is self employed, probably so they can check that she has returned to work and isn’t still claiming maternity leave whilst you intend to claim paternity leave!

So what rights will you have while on Additional Paternity Leave? Well, the regulations set out that all the terms and conditions of employment stay the same, with the exception of remuneration (pay – it is at the employer’s discretion if they want to pay higher then Statutory Paternity Pay, which is £123 a week). You have the right to return to work, an option of an early return to work (although 6 weeks’ notice is normally required) and a right to 10 keeping in touch (KIT) days. You would also have the right to be consulted in the same way a woman on maternity leave does if there was a risk of redundancy whilst on APL.

So on a positive note, the updated regulations give Dads a greater opportunity to be at home with their baby during the early, formative weeks and a chance to create stronger bonds as a result of extended paternity rights. But the disincentives are that men are often the highest earners in a family and must have satisfied the lengthy criteria to apply for the leave. But at least it’s a step in the right direction considering paid Paternity leave has been around for 8 years.