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On March 8th 2013, the right to take unpaid parental leave was extended by 5 weeks. This change came about to implement a European Parental Leave Directive.
What is Parental Leave?
Parental leave is unpaid time off work to look after a child’s welfare, for instance to help the child settle in to a new school or childcare arrangements, to accompany them to hospital, or simply to spend more time with them and strike a better work-family balance.
Previously…
Prior to 8 March 2013, parents employed for at least a year had the right to take parental leave to care for their children. This was in addition to any maternity, paternity or adoption leave they may have also been eligible for.
Each parent of a child under the age of five could take up to 13 weeks’ unpaid parental leave until the child’s 5th birthday. Adoptive parents were entitled to 13 weeks’ unpaid parental leave until the 5th anniversary of the adoption, or until the child’s 18th birthday, whichever came first.
Parents or adoptive parents of disabled children were entitled to up to 18 weeks’ parental leave each until the child’s 18th birthday. The entitlement applies to each individual child, and to qualify for parental leave, the parent must have been employed continuously for at least one year.
What now?
From 8 March 2013, the Parental Leave (EU Directive) Regulations 2013 have amended UK law, so that the total period of unpaid leave available to all eligible employees is now 18 weeks per parent per child.
As before, though employers and parents are allowed to agree more flexible arrangements, under the statutory scheme, no more than 4 weeks’ leave can be taken in any one year and leave has to be taken in blocks of one week.
For further information or advice please contact Pritti Bajaria on 01689 887 846 or email pritti.bajaria@cwj.co.uk