Unpaid parental leave gives an employee up to 18 weeks' leave for each child, to be used before the child's 18th birthday. Under the default rules it is taken in whole weeks, with no more than 4 weeks a year per child and at least 21 days' notice. Since 6 April 2026 it has been a day-one right. The Employment Rights Act 2025 removed the old requirement for one year's service, so a new starter can request it straight away. The leave is unpaid by law, but the employee's job and core contract terms are protected while they are away.
Who is entitled to parental leave
Under regulation 13 of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999, an employee qualifies if they have, or expect to have, responsibility for a child. That means they have parental responsibility, or are registered as the child's father on the birth register. The one-year qualifying period was removed with effect from 6 April 2026, when section 15 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 came fully into force and SI 2026/15 deleted the service condition from regulation 13. Employees who became newly eligible could give notice from 18 February 2026.
The right belongs to employees only. Workers, agency staff and the self-employed are not covered, nor are foster parents unless they have parental responsibility through the courts. An employer can choose to offer the leave more widely. The regulations apply in England, Wales and Scotland. Employers can ask for reasonable evidence, such as a birth certificate, but cannot demand it every time leave is requested.
How much leave and how it is measured
- 18 weeks per child. The entitlement is per child, not per job, so twins give 36 weeks in total;
- Up to the 18th birthday. Leave cannot be taken after the child turns 18;
- 4 weeks a year. No more than 4 weeks per child in each year, counted from the date the employee first became entitled, unless the employer agrees to more;
- Whole weeks. Leave must be taken in blocks of a week, unless the child receives disability living allowance, personal independence payment or armed forces independence payment.
A "week" means the employee's normal working week, not seven calendar days. For someone who works 3 days a week, one week of parental leave is 3 working days. Where hours vary, a week is the total hours worked in a year divided by 52. Leave already used with a previous employer counts towards the 18 weeks. An employee who used 10 weeks in an earlier job has 8 weeks left for that child.
Notice and postponement
The default rules are set out in Schedule 2 to the 1999 Regulations. They apply unless a collective or workforce agreement provides its own scheme.
- Standard notice. At least 21 days before the leave starts, giving the start and end dates;
- Leave from the birth. For a father taking leave from the date of birth, 21 days before the start of the expected week of childbirth;
- Leave from an adoption placement. 21 days before the expected week of placement, or as soon as reasonably practicable.
An employer may postpone leave only if the business would be "unduly disrupted". The postponement must be in writing, give the reason and the new dates, and be issued within 7 days of the employee's notice. The new start date must be no more than 6 months after the original one, and the leave must be of the same length. Leave cannot be postponed if it starts at the birth or adoption placement, or if postponing it would take it past the child's 18th birthday.
Worked example
Daniel joined a firm on 1 September 2026 and works Monday to Wednesday. His daughter is 5 and his son is 2. Because the right is now day-one, he can ask for leave in his first week. Each "week" of leave for him is 3 working days. He gives notice on 1 October asking for 2 weeks from 26 October. That is more than 21 days, so the notice is valid. If the firm has a genuine operational crunch, it has until 8 October to postpone in writing and must offer dates starting no later than 26 April 2027. Daniel has 36 weeks available in total, 18 for each child, and can take up to 4 weeks per child in each year.
Pay, protection and payroll
There is no statutory payment for parental leave. During the leave the employee keeps the benefit of the employer's duty of trust and confidence, contractual notice terms, redundancy compensation terms, and disciplinary and grievance procedures. In return they remain bound by duties of good faith and confidentiality. An employee returning from 4 weeks or less, taken on its own, is entitled to return to the same job. Longer periods carry a right to the same job or, if that is not reasonably practicable, a suitable alternative.
Taking or seeking to take parental leave is protected. Detriment is unlawful, and a dismissal for that reason is automatically unfair. An employee can also complain to a tribunal that leave was unreasonably postponed or blocked. The time limit for that complaint is six months.
For payroll, the leave weeks are simply unpaid. That has knock-on effects: lower pay in the period, and possibly reduced pension contributions where they are based on pay. Recording the dates accurately also lets the employer track the 4-week annual limit for each child and spot when an employee is close to the 18-week total.
How it differs from other family leave
Parental leave is easily confused with paternity leave, which has also been a day-one right since 6 April 2026, but only for babies born on or after that date (or expected in a week starting on or after 5 April 2026) and children placed for adoption from that date. Paternity pay, however, still needs 26 weeks' service by the qualifying week and earnings of at least £129 a week. The statutory paternity rate is £194.32 a week or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. Shared parental leave and maternity leave are separate entitlements again, and are paid where the conditions are met.
Sources: regulation 13, regulation 14 and Schedule 2 of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999, section 80 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, gov.uk: unpaid parental leave and the Employment Rights Act timeline update. Related guides: statutory maternity pay and business payroll.
Acumon records unpaid leave and recalculates statutory family pay as part of payroll management. Our pension administration service deals with the effect on auto-enrolment contributions.