Paternity Rights and Entitlement

Paternity Leave

An employee who has a child born or expected to be born is entitled to take either one or two consecutive weeks (at their choice) as paternity leave.

Statutory paternity leave must be taken within the period of 56 days beginning with the date of childbirth or if the baby is born prematurely up to 56 days after the actual date of childbirth. The employee must give their employer notice to take leave on or before the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth.

In most cases the employee will be entitled to statutory paternity pay (''SPP'') during the leave, this will be either The prescribed rate set by the Government each tax year or 90% of the employee's normal weekly earnings, whichever is the least.

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