📢 Significant Changes to Paternity Rights: What You Need to Know
- HRNews
- Jan 23
- 2 min read
The landscape of parental leave in the UK is shifting. Following recent legislative updates, new rights are now in effect, and even bigger changes are coming this April.
As an employer, staying ahead of these updates is vital for both compliance and supporting your team during their most difficult moments.
What is the news?
The Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024 has officially begun its rollout.
Effective now: Since December 29, 2025, the 26-week service requirement for paternity leave has been removed for bereaved partners. If a mother or primary adopter passes away, the surviving partner is entitled to paternity leave from day one of their employment.
From 6th April 2026: A new, expanded entitlement called Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave is set to launch. This will allow eligible employees to take up to 52 weeks of leave during the child’s first year if the primary carer dies.
Wider context: This runs alongside the Employment Rights Act 2025, which will make standard paternity leave a "day-one right" for all employees starting April 2026.
What does this mean?
While these tragic circumstances are rare, the impact on your business and your employees is significant:
Day-One Eligibility: You can no longer use length of service as a gatekeeper for paternity leave in bereavement cases.
Extended Absences: You may need to manage much longer periods of leave (up to a year) than the traditional two-week paternity block.
Enhanced Protections: Employees taking this leave will have strong legal protections against redundancy, detriment, and unfair dismissal, similar to maternity leave.
Flexibility: Employees will be able to take paternity leave even if they have already used Shared Parental Leave - closing a previous legal loophole.
Our advice:
Preparation is key to handling these sensitive situations with both legal precision and empathy. We recommend the following steps:
Update Your Policies: Review your Paternity and Family Leave policies immediately. Ensure they reflect the new day-one rights and the upcoming 52-week entitlement.
Brief Your Managers: These situations require extreme sensitivity. Ensure your management team knows how to handle a request quickly and compassionately without being slowed down by "eligibility checks."
Review System Workflows: Check that your HRIS and payroll systems won't automatically block a paternity request for an employee with less than 26 weeks of service.
Consider Your "Enhanced" Offer: If you offer enhanced contractual paternity pay, decide now if this will extend to bereaved partners or the full 52-week period.
Navigating employment law changes can be complex. If you need help updating your handbooks or training your managers on these new regulations, our team is here to support you.
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