EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999.
The Regulations remove a limitation on parental leave so as to permit the leave to be taken at any time before a child’s eighteenth birthday. In addition, the Regulations amend the provision concerning the right to return after maternity and parental leave.
An impact assessment has not been prepared for these Regulations. These Regulations are part of a package of legislative measures and the relevant impacts were assessed within the document ‘Sharing parental rights, extending flexibility at work – public consultation’, published in May 2013 (www.delni.gov.uk/index/consultation-zone/archived-consultations/archived-consultations-2013/working-parents-rights.htm), and supplemented by a further publication in April 2014 (www.delni.gov.uk/index/publications/equality-good-relations/shared-parental-leave-and-pay.htm).