Paternity Leave - UK

Here are some useful details about family leave in the UK.

If you or your partner become pregnant while in employment, you are entitled to take time off to care for your new arrival.. The entitlement to a basic period of maternity leave from employment extends to all female employees, regardless of how long you have been working for the organisation.

For new dads, you will be entitled to take 16 weeks’ paid paternity leave to support your partner and new arrival.

There’s lots of information available here on the Citizen’s Information website:

The application form for Paternity Benefit is called the SC3 and you can apply for this at any point before you go on leave. 

Whilst you are leave, all your benefits and employment rights are protected. Below are some frequently asked questions that you might find useful:

What happens to my Vitality membership whilst I’m on maternity leave?

Don’t worry - if you have signed up to Vitality you will continue to be covered throughout your leave.  Once your baby is born, don’t forget to email peopleops with their name and date of birth and we can make sure they are added to your plan.

What happens to my pension whilst I’m out on leave?

Your contributions will continue as normal during your 16 weeks paid leave. However, whilst you have no earnings, all contributions cease (employee and employer) but you’ll still accrue pensionable service during your leave.

What do I do if I want to avail of Shared Parental Leave?

You may be entitled to Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) - this allows both parents to share the responsibility of raising a newborn baby, allowing one partner to return to work.

If you’re eligible you can take:

- the remaining leave as SPL (52 weeks minus any weeks of maternity or adoption leave)
- the remaining pay as ShPP (39 weeks minus any weeks of maternity pay, maternity allowance or adoption pay)

Both SPL and ShPP are relatively recent additions to UK law so if you’re interested in finding out more, please discuss this with your HR representative.

What should I do about my accrued PTO whilst on leave?

It is recommended that you take some accrued PTO at the end of your maternity leave. Depending on how long you have been out of the business, you may accrue and carry over a significant amount of days. If you return to work late in the calendar year it may not be possible to take all of your PTO once returned. This is why we recommend you take at a minimum your accrued public holidays, any carry over from the previous year and some of your accrued PTO in the year to date. Please discuss this with your manager so you can balance personal and business considerations in making this decision.

Do I need to record my family leave dates on Workday?

Yes! Please enter your leave dates as soon as you have them by selecting the ‘Time Off’ worklet on your Workday homepage and selecting ‘Leave of Absence’, you can input your start and end dates there.