For young or disabled children
Parental leave is unpaid time off work to care for a child. You have a legal right to parental leave if you are named on the child’s birth certificate, adoption certificate, or have legal parental responsibility for the child. Foster parents do not have a right to this type of leave, but adoptive parents do.
To qualify for parental leave, you must have worked for the same employer for at least a year and have a job contract, and you either:
- have a child under five, or
- have a child under 18 with a disability.
Most casual staff and people working for employment agencies don’t have the right to parental leave. If you qualify for parental leave, you may be able to take:
- up to 13 weeks off work (in total, not every year) for each child, up to their fifth birthday (or for an adopted child, up to five years after the day the child was placed with you, up to their 18th birthday), or
- 18 weeks off work for each disabled child, up to the child’s 18th birthday.
If you don’t qualify for parental leave but you need to take time off to care for your child, you could either take paid holiday or ask your employer for unpaid time off or flexible working.
To find out more about your rights, visit www.direct.gov.uk, contact Citizens Advice or your employer’s human resources (personnel) department.
