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Work out the dates of Statutory Paternity Leave: one or two weeks, together or apart, the notice deadlines, and the date by which the leave has to be finished.
Northern Ireland did not adopt the 2024 changes, so the answer genuinely differs.
The notice deadline is counted from the week the baby is due, so this is needed even once the baby has arrived.
Used for the 26-week continuous employment test. Optional.
Paternity leave runs
Two quick steps: where the employee lives and when the baby is due, then how the leave is taken. The answer differs across the Irish Sea, so the country question is not cosmetic. The dates appear here as a step by step timeline.
Paternity leave and pay, tracked together
Moonworkers holds the leave dates against the employee, opens the paternity pay on the right payrun, applies the Northern Ireland rules where they differ and files the recovery through your EPS.
Three things decide everything: the week the baby is due, the actual birth, and which side of the Irish Sea the employee lives on.
Step 1
By the end of the 15th week before the baby is due, the employee has to give notice. The same week sets the 26-week employment test that paternity leave, unlike maternity leave, actually has.
Step 2
The leave runs from the birth at the earliest. It has to be finished within 52 weeks of the birth in Great Britain, or 56 days in Northern Ireland, measured from the due date if the baby was early.
Step 3
In Great Britain the two weeks can be split into two separate weeks, each confirmed 28 days beforehand. In Northern Ireland they stay consecutive.
For the pay side, use the Statutory Paternity Pay calculator and our guide to Statutory Paternity Pay.
One or two weeks. It is the same entitlement whether one baby arrives or several, and it cannot be taken as odd days. An employee who wants more time can look at Shared Parental Leave or unpaid parental leave.
In England, Scotland and Wales, yes. Since 6 April 2024 the two weeks can be taken as two separate blocks of one week, each with 28 days’ notice. In Northern Ireland they still have to be taken together as one consecutive block.
It cannot start before the birth, and it can start on the day of the birth itself. In Great Britain it must be finished within 52 weeks of the birth, or of the due date if the baby arrived early. In Northern Ireland the window is 56 days rather than 52 weeks.
No, and this is where it differs from maternity leave. The employee needs 26 weeks of continuous employment by the end of the 15th week before the baby is due, and they must still be employed on the day of the birth.
By the end of the 15th week before the baby is due, they tell the employer the due date and roughly when they want the leave. They then confirm the actual dates of each block at least 28 days beforehand, and they can change their mind up to that point.
The father, or the mother’s spouse, civil partner or partner, or the child’s adopter, or the intended parent in a surrogacy arrangement. They must be responsible for the child’s upbringing and taking the time off to care for the child or support the mother.
Leave and pay are separate. An employee who passes the employment test but earns below the Lower Earnings Limit still takes the two weeks off, just unpaid. Give them form SPP1 within 28 days explaining why the pay is refused.
Yes. A block is a week, running for seven consecutive days including any non-working days. Half weeks and single days are not statutory paternity leave, though an employer is free to offer more generous contractual terms.
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