Unpaid parental leave is also a day-one right
Unpaid parental leave previously required one year of continuous service. Since April 2026, this requirement has been removed. Employees can now take up to 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave per child before the child turns 18, from the first day of employment. The usual limit of four weeks per year per child still applies unless you agree otherwise.
For employers with high staff turnover or a significant proportion of newer employees, this change widens the pool of people who can request unpaid parental leave at short notice.
An important distinction: leave and pay are different
While eligibility for paternity leave is now a day-one right, the rules around Statutory Paternity Pay have not changed. Employees still need to meet the existing service and earnings requirements to qualify for SPP.
This means some employees will have the right to take paternity leave but not qualify for statutory pay during that leave. Clear communication with employees when they give notice is important, so they understand what they’re entitled to and what they’re not. ACAS guidance on time off for parents is a useful plain-language resource for both managers and employees.
Paternity leave after shared parental leave
From April 2026, employees can take statutory paternity leave even if they have previously taken Shared Parental Leave. This gives families greater flexibility in how they share childcare responsibilities and removes a restriction that previously prevented fathers and partners from taking both.
Transitional arrangements for 2026
There are temporary notice adjustments for employees who became newly eligible due to the April 2026 changes and whose baby was due between 5 April and 25 July 2026. These employees only needed to give 28 days’ notice of their intention to take paternity leave, rather than the usual 15 weeks before the expected week of childbirth. For babies due from 26 July 2026 onwards, the standard notice rules apply.
Under standard rules, employees must inform their employer of the baby’s due date at least 15 weeks before the expected week of childbirth and give 28 days’ notice of when they wish to start their leave. Different notice rules apply for adoption placements.
What you should do now
- Review your paternity leave and unpaid parental leave policies and update them to remove any reference to qualifying service periods.
- Check your employment contracts. If they state a qualifying period for paternity or parental leave, they need to be updated.
- Brief your managers. Particularly important for anyone who manages new starters or handles absence requests.
- Make sure your onboarding process communicates these entitlements clearly to new employees from day one.
- If you have a contractual enhanced paternity pay scheme, review whether its qualifying period also needs updating in light of the changes to statutory entitlements.
How Limelite can help
We help organisations across Worcestershire, Birmingham and the wider UK update their employment contracts and HR policies to reflect current legislation. If your family leave policies haven’t been reviewed since the April 2026 changes came into force, our HR project support team can get them up to date quickly.
For ongoing support with employment law changes, find out about our retained HR service. Book a free 30-minute discovery call to talk it through.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call
About the author
Helen Scullion Assoc. CIPD, HR Client Manager at Limelite HR & Learning. Helen supports organisations with day-to-day HR management, employee relations and practical people support. Connect with Helen on LinkedIn.
