The provisions of the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 2025) that make paternity leave and unpaid parental leave "day one" rights are due to come into force on 6 April 2026. At the same time, the Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave Regulations 2026 will extend paternity leave entitlement for bereaved partners to up to 52 weeks, where the child's mother/primary adopter dies within a year of the child's birth/adoption placement.
Day one rights to paternity and parental leave
The government has made regulations confirming that the changes in the ERA 2025, making paternity and unpaid parental leave day one rights for all fathers/partners and removing the prohibition on taking paternity leave if shared parental leave has been taken, will apply from 6 April 2026.
Employees wishing to take paternity leave in birth cases usually have to give notice of their entitlement by the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth (EWC), and then give 28 days' notice of their intended leave dates. However, where the EWC falls between 5 April and 25 July 2026, transitional provisions temporarily reduce the required notice of entitlement to 28 days, to enable parents who become eligible for paternity leave as a result of it becoming a day one right to take advantage of the right as soon as possible.
The transitional provisions also allow notice of both paternity leave and unpaid parental leave to be given from 18 February 2026, to ensure that those who are newly eligible can take their entitlement from 6 April 2026.
The newly extended rights will apply for children born on or after 6 April 2026, or with an EWC starting on or after 5 April 2026 where the child is born early. In adoption cases, the extended rights will apply where the child is placed for adoption on or after 6 April 2026 (or enters Great Britain on or after that date, in overseas adoptions).
Bereaved partner's paternity leave
As we have previously reported, the Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024 came into force on 29 December 2025, removing the six months' continuous service requirement for fathers or partners to take paternity leave, where the child's mother/primary adopter dies, and allowing the father/partner to take paternity leave even if they have already taken a period of shared parental leave. This modified paternity leave entitlement is known as bereaved partner's paternity leave.
The government has now published draft regulations that will make the following changes to bereaved partner's paternity leave, with effect from 6 April 2026:
- Where the child's mother dies before the child's first birthday, the bereaved partner will be entitled to take up to 52 weeks' paternity leave (provided they have the main responsibility for the upbringing of the child).
- Where / the child's primary adopter dies before the first anniversary of the child's placement for adoption, the bereaved partner will be entitled to take up to 52 weeks' paternity leave (provided they have the main responsibility for the upbringing of the child).
- Where the child also dies, the bereaved partner will be entitled to remain on paternity leave for up to eight weeks after the child's death.
- Where an adopted child is returned to the adoption agency following the primary adopter's death, the bereaved partner will be entitled to remain on paternity leave for up to eight weeks after their return.
These extended rights will apply where the child's mother / primary adopter dies on or after 6 April 2026. Similar rights are provided for parents in surrogacy cases.
Eligibility for bereaved partner's paternity leave ends on the child's first birthday / the first anniversary of the child's placement for adoption. In practice, therefore, the amount of leave the bereaved partner will be entitled to will be limited by reference to that date. For example, if the child's mother dies two weeks after the child's birth, the bereaved partner would be able to take up to 50 weeks' bereaved partner's paternity leave before the child's first birthday. The draft regulations provide that if the child's mother / primary adopter dies less than two weeks before the child's first birthday / anniversary of placement, then entitlement to bereaved partner's paternity leave will end 14 days after the bereavement date.
The notice required to take bereaved partner's paternity leave will depend on when the employee wishes the leave to start:
- If the employee wishes the leave to start within eight weeks of the bereavement, they must give notice before they are due to start work on the day they wish their leave to start. This notice can be given orally or in writing – although within eight weeks of the bereavement date the employee will have to give written notice of their intended return to work date and a declaration as to the purpose of the leave.
- If the employee wishes the leave to start more than eight weeks after the bereavement, they must give at least one week's notice in writing, which must also specify their intended return date and a declaration as to the purpose of the leave.
An employee on bereaved partner's paternity leave will be entitled to take up to ten KIT days without bringing their leave to an end.
On return from a period of bereaved partner's paternity leave, an employee will usually be entitled to return to their previous job. However, in certain circumstances where they have also taken other types of family leave, they will be entitled to return to their previous job or, if that is not reasonably practicable, to a suitable alternative job. Employees returning from bereaved partner's paternity leave will also benefit from extended enhanced redundancy protection (mirroring protections available to those taking maternity leave).
It will be automatically unfair to dismiss an employee or select them for redundancy, and it will be unlawful to subject them to a detriment, because they took or sought to take bereaved partner's paternity leave.
What does this mean for employers?
Employers will need to update their family policies to reflect these changes. Employers who would like assistance with this are encouraged to get in touch with their usual DAC Beachcroft contact.
Making paternity and parental leave available from day one of employment may lead to an increase in the number of employees taking these types of leave. However, as there will be no corresponding statutory pay entitlement, the impact on employers is expected to be limited.
Bereaved partner's paternity leave is likely to be relevant to only a small number of employees, and the fact that the draft regulations do not provide any entitlement to pay may mean that few employees can afford to make use of the maximum amount of leave available. (Employers wishing to take a supportive approach may consider providing a paid period of leave in these circumstances.)
