What is paternity leave?
Fathers and partners have the right during their employment have the right to request time off because their partner is having a baby, adopting a child or having a baby through a surrogacy.
How much leave can be taken?
Fathers and partners will now have the option to take a total of two weeks leave as either two separate one week periods of leave (non-consecutive) or as one continuous period.
When is the leave to be taken?
Before these changes leave had to be taking immediately following the birth/adoption of the child. Now leave can be taken at any point in the first year (in 52 weeks) following the birth/adoption.
How do I apply for leave?
In the case of birth, the notice period of intention to take paternity leave will 28 days before the date (each) period of leave is intended to be taken. (In the case of adoption, the notice period will remain at 7 days of the employee having received notice of being matched with a child.)
These changes affect all of your family friendly policies relating to children, maternity/adoption leave, paternity, parental and so on.
Do I have to update my HR policies?
You are legally required to ensure you are providing the entitlements to your employees. As employment laws change twice a year, we don’t expect you to keep abreast of all the changes, therefore if your HR policies are up to date, then all of the changes are reflected in them and your staff will be informed of what they are entitled to.
What happens if I don’t update my HR policies and I am not giving my employees what they are entitled to?
The main point is that you are not complying to employment law. Employees are very savvy these days and often know changes in employment legislation before you do. If your policies aren’t up to date and they know what they are entitled to, they are likely to raise a grievance and you will need to look into the issue and then provide an outcome and potentially be forced to update you policies at that point. That is a lot of effort and time wasted. We get your policies up to date in a very short time and this will save you the issues that arise around a grievance.
If you continue to not update your policies, staff leave or grievances keep being raised, it’s going to impact on your staff morale and could result in your finding yourself at an employment tribunal. This would be a costly mistake that you should want to avoid.
For updated HR policies, please complete our enquiry form: Enquiry Form – Sustainable & Ethical HR Consultancy – Specialised HR