Increases to parental leave

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Overview

The revised Parental Leave Directive will:
- extend parental leave from 3 to 4 months per parent, of which 1 month at least must be non-transferable between the parents
- make clear that the right to parental leave applies to all employees, regardless of their type of contract (i.e. part time, fixed term and agency workers will be covered)
- not change the qualifying period (which may remain at up to 1 year’s service) but for successive fixed-term contracts with the same employer, the overall duration of such contracts will have to be taken into account when calculating the qualifying period
- give parents returning from parental leave the right to request, for a limited period, changes to their working hours and/or patterns for a set period and employers will have to respond to such requests in the light of both their own and their employees’ needs
- increase the protection for employees not just against dismissal but against any unfavourable treatment because of asserting a right to take parental leave.
Currently an eligible employee (i.e. a parent with one year's service) can take up to 13 weeks' parental leave for each child (subject to a maximum of 4 weeks in any one year). The leave must normally be taken by the child's 5th birthday. Unless the contract provides otherwise, the time off will be unpaid.

Required in member states by 8 March 2012. However BIS has confirmed that the UK will not meet this deadline. Instead the government will take advantage of the extra year's grace allowed for in the directive and bring the changes into force in March 2013. The increased rights will be incorporated into the planned new system of flexible parental leave.