The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Parental and Paternity Leave) (Removal of Qualifying Periods etc.) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026

Citation, commencement and extent

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Employment Rights Act 2025 (Parental and Paternity Leave) (Removal of Qualifying Periods etc.) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026.

(2) The following provisions of these Regulations come into force on 18th February 2026—

(a) this regulation and regulations 2 and 3;

(b) regulations 4 and 5 to the extent necessary for the giving of any notices and evidence under Schedule 2 to the 1999 Regulations by or to an employee who becomes entitled to take parental leave on or after 6th April 2026 as a result of section 15 of the 2025 Act (parental leave: removal of qualifying period of employment) coming fully into force;

(c) regulations 6 to 8, to the extent necessary for the giving of any notices and evidence under regulations made under section 80A or 80B of the 1996 Act(1) by or to an employee who becomes entitled to take paternity leave on or after 6th April 2026 as a result of section 16 of the 2025 Act (paternity leave: removal of qualifying period of employment) coming fully into force;

(d) regulations 6 to 8 and 10 to 14, in relation to cases where a child’s mother dies or where a person with whom a child is placed or expected to be placed for adoption dies (see sections 80A(6A) and 80B(6C) of the 1996 Act);

(e) regulation 9.

(3) In so far as they are not already in force, these Regulations come into force on 6th April 2026.

(4) These Regulations extend to England and Wales and Scotland.

(1)

Sections 80A and 80B were inserted into the Employment Rights Act 1996 (c. 18) (“the 1996 Act”) by section 1 of the Employment Act 2002 (c. 22). Section 80A was amended by paragraph 35 of Schedule 1 to the Work and Families Act 2006 (c. 18), by section 118(6) of, and paragraph 32 of Schedule 7 to, the Children and Families Act 2014 (c. 6) (“the 2014 Act”), by section 1(1) and (2) of the Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024 (c. 17) (“the 2024 Act”) and by sections 16(1) and 17(1) of the Employment Rights Act 2025 (c. 36) (“the 2025 Act”) and applied with modifications by S.I. 2014/3095 (amended by S.I. 2018/1413) to cases which involve an employee who has applied, or intends to apply, with another person for a parental order under section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (c. 22) and a child who is, or will be, the subject of the order (“parental order cases”). Section 80B was amended by sections 118(7), 121(2), 122(4), 128(2)(b) of, and paragraph 33 of Schedule 7 to, the 2014 Act, by section 1(1) and (3) of the 2024 Act, by sections 16(2) and 17(2) of the 2025 Act and by S.I. 2016/413 (W. 131), and applied with modifications by S.I. 2003/920 to cases which involve adoption, but not the placement of a child for adoption under the law of any part of the United Kingdom, and by S.I. 2014/3095 to parental order cases.