PART III PARENTAL LEAVE
Entitlement to parental leave13
1
An employee who—
a
has been continuously employed for a period of not less than a year F1or is to be treated as having been so employed by virtue of paragraph (1A); 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.
F61A
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2
An employee has responsibility for a child, for the purposes of paragraph (1), if—
a
he has parental responsibility or, in Scotland, parental responsibilities for the child; or
F23
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Extent of entitlement14
F51
An employee is entitled to eighteen weeks’ leave in respect of any individual child.
F41A
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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 his 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 takenF715
An employee may not exercise any entitlement to parental leave in respect of a child after the date of the child’s 18th birthday.
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.
F3Review16A
1
The Secretary of State must from time to time—
a
carry out a review of regulations 13 to 16 and Schedule 2,
b
set out the conclusions of the review in a report, and
c
publish the report.
2
In carrying out the review the Secretary of State must, so far as is reasonable, have regard to how Council Directive 2010/18/EU of 8 March 2010 implementing the revised framework agreement on parental leave (which is implemented by means of regulations 13 to 16 and Schedule 2) is implemented in other member States.
3
The report must in particular—
a
set out the objectives intended to be achieved by the regulatory system established by those regulations,
b
assess the extent to which those objectives are achieved, and
c
assess whether those objectives remain appropriate and, if so, the extent to which they could be achieved with a system that imposes less regulation.
4
The first report under this regulation must be published before the end of the period of five years beginning with the day on which this regulation comes into force.
5
Reports under this regulation are afterwards to be published at intervals not exceeding five years.