Part IIIParental Leave
Entitlement to parental leave13
1
An employee who—
a
has been continuously employed for a period of not less than a year; and
b
has, or expects to have, responsibility for a child,
is entitled, in accordance with these Regulations, to be absent from work on parental leave for the purpose of caring for that child.
2
An employee has responsibility for a child, for the purposes of paragraph (1), if he has parental responsibility for the child.
3
An employee is not entitled to parental leave in respect of a child born before 15th December 1999, except for a child who is adopted by the employee, or placed with the employee for adoption by him, on or after that date.
Extent of entitlement14
1
An employee is entitled to 13 weeks' leave in respect of any individual child.
2
Where the period for which an employee is normally required, under his contract of employment, to work in the course of a week does not vary, a week’s leave for the employee is a period of absence from work which is equal in duration to the period for which he is normally required to work.
3
Where the period for which an employee is normally required, under his contract of employment, to work in the course of a week varies from week to week or over a longer period, or where he is normally required under this contract to work in some weeks but not in others, a week’s leave for the employee is a period of absence from work which is equal in duration to the period calculated by dividing the total of the periods for which he is normally required to work in a year by 52.
4
Where an employee takes leave in periods shorter than the period which constitutes, for him, a week’s leave under whichever of paragraphs (2) and (3) is applicable in his case, he completes a week’s leave when the aggregate of the periods of leave he has taken equals the period constituting a week’s leave for him under the applicable paragraph.
When parental leave may be taken15
An employee may not exercise any entitlement to parental leave in respect of a child—
a
except in the cases referred to in paragraphs (b) to (d), after the date of the child’s fifth birthday;
b
in a case where the child is entitled to a disability living allowance, after the date of the child’s eighteenth birthday;
c
in a case where the child was placed with the employee for adoption by him (other than a case where paragraph (b) applied), after—
i
the fifth anniversary of the date on which the placement began, or
ii
the date of the child’s eighteenth birthday,
whichever is the earlier;
d
in a case where—
i
the provisions set out in Schedule 2 apply, and
ii
the employee would have taken leave on or before a date or anniversary referred to in paragraphs (a) to (c) but for the fact that the employer postponed it under paragraph 6 of that Schedule,
after the end of the period to which the leave was postponed.
Default provisions in respect of parental leave16
The provisions set out in Schedule 2 apply in relation to parental leave in the case of an employee whose contract of employment does not include a provision which—
a
confers an entitlement to absence from work for the purpose of caring for a child, and
b
incorporates or operates by reference to all or part of a collective agreement or workforce agreement.