Family Leave:
Paternity, Shared Parental and Bereavement

GB: a day-one right from 6 April 2026

• Employees can take paternity leave from their first day of employment (before 6 April 2026 it needed 26 weeks).
• 1 or 2 weeks, taken together or as 2 separate blocks of 1 week.
• Tell your employer before the end of the qualifying week (the 15th week before the week the baby is due), and give the dates at least 28 days before each period of leave.
• Workers are not entitled to paternity leave, but might get statutory paternity pay.

Sharing up to 50 weeks

• Parents can share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay, by the day before the child's first birthday.
• The mother must first end her maternity leave and pay early (not in the first 2 weeks after the birth — 4 in a factory). Ended maternity pay cannot restart.
• You need 26 weeks with your employer by the end of the 15th week before the week the baby is due. Your partner needs 26 of the 66 weeks before, and to have earned enough (GB: at least £390 in total in 13 of those weeks; NI: at least £30 a week on average in 13 of those weeks).
• Shared Parental Pay: £194.32 a week or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower; you must earn at least £129 a week on average.
• Book with at least 8 weeks' notice, in up to 3 blocks (more if your employer agrees).

Parental Bereavement Leave

• If your child dies under 18, or is stillborn after 24 weeks, you can take up to 2 weeks of Parental Bereavement Leave, from day one, within 56 weeks.
• Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay: £194.32 a week or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. GB: needs 26 weeks with your employer and average earnings of at least £129 a week — otherwise the leave is unpaid.
• GB: if the mother or main adopter of your child dies in the first year (death on or after 6 April 2026), you may get up to 52 weeks of unpaid Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave.
• GB: pregnancy loss before 24 weeks currently has no statutory maternity, paternity or bereavement leave; time off is treated as pregnancy-related sickness. A new right is planned (the government says April 2027) — not law yet.

Frequently asked questions