Parental leave and time off for dependants

Introduction

Employees with young or disabled children are entitled to take periods of unpaid parental leave.

An employee must comply with certain qualification and notification requirements before taking this leave. However, you can agree with employees or their representatives to enhance these requirements where appropriate.

This guide sets out what an employee must do to qualify, how you can postpone the leave, contractual issues during the leave period and the employee's return to work. It also details how you might go about setting up a workforce agreement.

Finally, this guide deals with the right to take time off to deal with emergencies involving dependants and looks at family-friendly ways of working.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Entitlement to parental leave
• Notification and postponement of parental leave
• When parental leave can be taken and for how long
• What is parental leave for?
• Contractual issues during parental leave
• Returning to work after parental leave
• Agreeing a workplace parental leaving scheme
• The minimum requirements of workplace parental leave schemes
• Time off to deal with emergencies involving dependants
• Promoting family-friendly ways of working

Print options - What are my print options - Opens in a new window

• Add guide to my print portfolio (print later as PDF)

Email options - What are my email options - Opens in a new window

• Tell a friend about this page
• Send me an email alert when this guide changes