In this second post of our series on the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA), and with just over a month to go before the next tranche of eight changes come into force on 6 April 2026, we are going to look at Statutory Parental Leave (SPL). Our previous post on the ERA can be found here and further posts over the next four weeks will deal with the seven other changes.
Parental Leave: A ‘day one’ right
Parental leave is an unpaid entitlement that is rarely relied on by employees of whom, according to some surveys, only 5% take. Research indicates that this is principally because of the lack of awareness of the entitlement and because employees cannot afford to take unpaid leave.
In organisations with comprehensive handbooks, the parental leave policy is often a simple statement reflecting the default statutory position and left languishing at the back.
The point is that it will often be a struggle for anyone to recite with any confidence the qualifying conditions for an employee to avail themselves of this right, or indeed the entitlement itself.
Consequently we thought it best to start off with a summary of SPL as it stands before spelling out the change and next steps. As with all summaries, there are always some exceptions but for the sake of brevity we have kept to the main features.
To take SPL an individual must, at the date the leave is to be taken, satisfy all of the following:
- They must be an employee, not a worker (e.g. a casual) or self-employed consultant.
- They must have, or expect to have, responsibility for a child, namely and usually, the child’s parents or legal guardians (but that does not always mean the child’s biological mother or father, particularly if not registered on the birth certificate).
- They must not be a serving member of the police or armed services (who are excluded).
The statutory entitlement to SPL is, subject to some exceptions, as follows:
- The non-transferrable right for an eligible employee to take, subject to giving 21 days’ advance notice, up to a total of 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave for each child (up to their 18th birthday).
- Eligible employees may take SPL in blocks of blocks of a week or whole numbers of weeks but no more than four weeks per year.
- SPL must be taken only for the purpose of caring for a child, which the government guidance indicates can be for a wide range of non-emergency reasons such as:
- Spending more time with children.
- Looking at new schools.
- Settling a child into new childcare arrangements.
- Spending more time with family (for example, visiting grandparents).
- Employees have the right to return to same job after the end of a SPL period of not more than four weeks, or in some cases involving other statutory leave that has also been taken, a suitable alternative job.
The Changes
For SPL starting before 6 April 2026, eligible employees must have been continuously employed for a period of not less than one year at the date the leave starts, but that qualifying period will be abolished on 6 April 2026. In other words, SPL will become a ‘day one’ entitlement.
As the lack of eligibility due to not having the necessary length of service does appear to be the most significant reason why parents and guardians are not availing themselves of SPL more often (being unaware, and lack of pay ranking higher), whether offering this right from the commencement of employment will have any impact on the uptake statistics remains to be seen.
In the meantime, employers are advised to remind themselves of SPL in the event there is an increase in uptake and to remove the qualifying period for entitlement from any handbook policy.
If you need any advice on Statutory Parental Leave, putting in place an SPL policy, or updating your current one, please contact Michael-Jon Andrews or call us on 020 8944 5290.