Docklands Solicitor

The government has announced plans that will allow fathers to take up to a total of 26 weeks additional paternity leave.At present mothers are entitled to 52 weeks statutory maternity leave and a total of 39 weeks statutory maternity pay.

Fathers are entitled to only 2 weeks paid paternity leave if qualifying conditions are met. The governments current proposal is that fathers will be entitled to take ?additional paternity leave? of up to 6 months.

This ?additional paternity leave? will come off a mothers entitlement to 52 weeks maternity leave.

In effect both parents will be able to split the total of 52 weeks leave between them.

Plans to extend statutory maternity pay to the full 52 week period have been put on hold, meaning that if a father takes the additional 26 weeks leave, he will only be entitled to receive paternity pay for half of that (up to the total of 39 weeks for both mother and father).

The draft government regulations confirming the detail of the proposal have yet to be drawn up but it is expected that the new right will be effective for babies born on or after 5 April 2011.

Labels: Family, legal rights, paternity leave