Paternity Leave

If you’re an employee, you can take both:

1 or 2 weeks of Ordinary Paternity Leave
up to 26 weeks’ Additional Paternity Leave (only if the child’s mother has returned to work)

You must start and end Ordinary Paternity Leave within 56 days of your baby’s arrival.

You have more than one baby

If your partner has a multiple birth, for example twins, you’ll only get one period of paternity leave.

You don’t have a legal right to time off for antenatal appointments but speak to your employer as you may be able to come to an arrangement.

If you lose your child

You can take Ordinary Paternity Leave if your child is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy or born alive at any point of the pregnancy.

What you'll get

Ordinary Paternity Leave

You can choose to take either 1 or 2 weeks of Ordinary Paternity Leave.

You can’t take odd days off and if you take 2 weeks, you must take them together.

If you don’t work full time, a week’s leave is the same amount of days that you normally work in a week. For example, if you only work Mondays and Tuesdays, a week is 2 days.

You must start and end Ordinary Paternity Leave within 56 days of your baby’s arrival.

Additional Paternity Leave

If you’re eligible, you can take up to 26 weeks of Additional Paternity Leave.

You can start Additional Paternity Leave from 20 weeks after your child arrives - it must end by your child’s 1st birthday (or 1 year after adoption).

You can only take Additional Paternity Leave once your child’s mother or adopter has returned to work.

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Eligibility

Ordinary Paternity Leave

You must have worked for your employer for at least 26 weeks by either:

the end of the 15th week before the start of the week when your baby is due
the end of the week you’re told you’re matched with your adopted child
the date your child enters Great Britain (if you’re adopting from overseas)

You must also be one of the following:

the biological father of the child
the mother’s husband or partner (including civil partnerships)
the child’s adopter
the husband or partner (including civil partnerships) of the child’s adopter

Additional Paternity Leave

You must be taking time off to care for your child. Your child’s mother or adopter must have been entitled to one or more of the following:

Statutory Maternity Leave
Statutory Maternity Pay
Maternity Allowance
Statutory Adoption Leave or Pay

Your partner must have started working again and no longer be getting any of the above.

You must be with the same employer the week (Sunday to Saturday) before you want to start your Additional Paternity Leave.

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How to claim

Ordinary Paternity Leave

Fill in form SC3 below to claim your paternity leave and give it to your employer:

at least 15 weeks before the beginning of the week when your baby’s due
within 7 days of being matched with a child if you’re adopting

Download ‘Form SC3 - Becoming a parent’ (PDF, 100KB)

You don’t have to provide medical evidence of the pregnancy or birth to claim Ordinary Paternity Leave.

Additional Paternity Leave

You must tell your employer in writing at least 8 weeks before you want to start your additional leave. You can use the forms below (but check if your employer has their own form).

Download ‘Form SC7 - for births’ (PDF, 46KB)

Download ‘Form SC8 - for UK adoptions’ (PDF, 45KB)

Download ‘Form SC9 - for overseas adoptions’ (PDF, 45KB)

Your employer may ask you for:

a copy of your child’s birth certificate or adoption matching certificate
the employment details of the mother or adopter

You’ll need to provide this information within 28 days.

Returning to work

You have the right to return to your job on the same terms and conditions you were on before taking Additional Paternity Leave.

If you can’t return to your original job, ie your job no longer exists, your employer must offer you other suitable work.

If you want to return to work early, you must tell your employer at least 6 weeks before you come back.

If you don’t do this, your employer can refuse your return until whichever date is earlier:

6 weeks after you ask to return
your original return date (as entered on your Additional Paternity form)

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Further information

If you’re no longer your child’s main carer

You must tell your employer straight away if you’re no longer eligible for Additional Paternity Leave.

Unpaid leave

Your employer can insist you take unpaid leave if:

you don’t give 6 weeks’ notice
your change in circumstances is not practical for them

Your unpaid leave will start on the date your paternity leave was due to start and will end after 6 weeks or the date your paternity leave was due to end (whichever is earlier).

If your partner is entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay, Maternity Allowance or Statutory Adoption Pay and starts working part time or becomes self-employed, you’ll still be eligible for Additional Paternity Leave.

Company paternity leave schemes

Your employer may have their own paternity leave scheme. You can choose the government’s statutory Paternity Leave scheme if it suits you better and you qualify for it.

Contact with your employer

Your employer is entitled to make reasonable contact with you during Additional Paternity Leave, eg to let you know about changes at work such as job vacancies.

Keeping in touch days

You can work up to 10 days during your Additional Paternity Leave if both you and your employer agree. You’ll need to agree with your employer what work you’ll do and how much pay you’ll get.

If you disagree with the decision

If your application for Paternity Leave is turned down, talk to your employer and explain your rights. You could ask for advice from your trade union or a voluntary organisation like Citizens Advice.

If your partner dies

If your partner dies before your child’s 1st birthday (or before 1 year after adoption) you may be able to extend Additional Paternity Leave up to 52 weeks. You can’t do this if your leave has already ended. You need to send your employer form SC10 (or your employer’s own form) within 8 weeks of your partner’s death.

Download ‘Form SC10’ (PDF, 45KB)

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