In the news: Unpaid parental leave becomes day-one right

October 2024

Unpaid parental leave is a statutory right few have heard of, let alone actually use. Completely separate from maternity/paternity leave, unpaid parental leave entitles you (and your partner) to four weeks of unpaid leave, per child, per year, up to a max of 18 weeks until they’re 18.

Financially, it works a bit like taking additional unpaid holiday – but it’s a statutory right and so your employer cannot refuse you taking it (but they can refuse when you take it if the timings would be detrimental to the business/organisation). Parental leave must also be taken in one-week blocks.

It’s now a day-one right – meaning you can request it as soon as you start a new job.

It can be used for whatever you want! But some good ways of using it include:

·       Over the school summer holidays to look after children

·       Tagged on to other types of leave (annual leave, maternity leave, paternity leave etc) to extend your time off

·       Long family holidays (where you don’t want to use your entire annual leave allocation for one trip)

·       If you’re studying for exams and your employer won’t give you study leave

·       If you just need some time at home (for example your child is doing their exams and you want to be around for a couple of weeks to support them)

Had you ever heard of unpaid parental leave? And, now that you have, would you take it?