Paternity Leave Policy - April 2026
In this section
- Introduction
- Scope
- Entitlement to paternity leave (birth)
- Entitlement to paternity leave (adoption)
- Amount of paternity leave you can take
- Timing of paternity leave
- Notice to take paternity leave (birth)
- Notice to take paternity leave (adoption within the UK)
- Notice to take paternity leave (adoption from overseas)
- Late notice
- Changing your paternity leave plans
- Paternity pay
- Further information
- Maternity/Adoption Support Leave (M/ASL)
- Your rights during paternity leave
- Neonatal care leave
- Bereaved partner's paternity leave
- Returning to work after paternity leave
- Time off for antenatal appointments
- Time off to attend adoption appointments
- Data protection
- Additional leave
- Re-instating lost pension because of unpaid paternity leave
- Abuse of the Paternity Leave policy
- Ensuring equality of opportunity
Amount of paternity leave you can take
You can take up to two weeks' paternity leave. You do not have to take your leave in one single period, but the leave must be booked in blocks of at least one week. There is no longer a qualifying service requirement to be entitled to paternity leave.
This means that you can take the leave in:
• one block of one week;
• one block of two weeks; or
• two separate blocks of one week each.
A week of paternity leave is the same duration as your normal working week. This means that if you are a full-time employee, one week is [five] days. If you are contracted to work four days per week, one week is four days, and so on.
You can take only two weeks' paternity leave per pregnancy or adoption, even if more than one child is born as a result of the pregnancy or more than one child is placed under the same adoption arrangement.