Paternity Leave for Fathers: Rights, Pay and How to Claim

You are entitled to statutory paternity leave if:

• ✓Yes: You are an employee (paternity leave is a day one right, there is no minimum length of service)
• ✓Yes: You are the child's father, or married to, the civil partner of or the partner of the child's mother or birth parent (this includes same-sex partners)
• ✓Yes: You have, or expect to have, responsibility for bringing up the child (if you are not the father, the main responsibility apart from the mother's)
• ✓Yes: For adoption: you are the child's adopter, or the husband or partner of the adopter
• ✓Yes: For surrogacy: you are an intended parent, in a couple and responsible for the child with your partner
• ✓Yes: You give your employer the correct notice (see below)

Same-sex couples: if you are married to, the civil partner of or the partner of the mother or birth parent, you can take paternity leave; Acas says this includes same-sex partners. Surrogacy: intended parents can get paternity leave and pay if they are in a couple and responsible for the child with their partner. You must tell your employer at least 15 weeks before the baby is due, in writing if you want Statutory Paternity Pay, and give a written statement that you intend to apply for a parental order in the 6 months after the birth and expect the court to give you that order. Acas says that one intended parent can take adoption leave and the other statutory paternity leave, and that you cannot swap once you have told your employers.

Employees, workers and agency workers: Acas says you must have the legal status of employee to take statutory paternity leave. Someone with the legal status of worker is not entitled to the leave, but might be entitled to Statutory Paternity Pay. A person who works through an agency might be either an employee or a worker. If an agency worker is not entitled to the leave, Acas says the agency and employer should make an arrangement with them, such as paid holiday, unpaid leave or special leave.

If you lose your baby: GOV.UK says you can still get Paternity Pay and Leave if your baby is stillborn from 24 weeks of pregnancy or born alive at any point during the pregnancy. You can take any leave you booked before losing the baby. If you have leave left to book, you can still book and take it, and you must do this within 8 weeks of the death.

You can take 1 or 2 weeks of statutory paternity leave. If you take two weeks, you can take them together or as two separate blocks of one week each. You cannot take it as odd days. A week of leave is the number of days you normally work in a week, and you get the same amount if you have twins.

• One or two weeks: if you take two, together or as two separate single weeks
• It starts on or after the day of the birth
• It must end within 52 weeks of the birth (or of the due date if the baby is early), or of the date the child is due to be placed with you on an adoption
• You choose when each block starts: the day of the birth, a set number of days after it, or a set date after the first day of the expected week of birth

These rules changed on 6 April 2024 and apply to children whose expected week of birth begins after that date, or who are expected to be placed for adoption on or after it.

Northern Ireland. GOV.UK says there are different rules if you live in Northern Ireland. nidirect says you can take either one or two weeks of paternity leave and cannot take odd days, and that if you take two weeks you must take consecutive weeks. To qualify you must be an employee and have been working with your employer for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the start of the week when the baby is due. Your leave can start on any day of the week but not before the baby is born, and it has to finish within 56 days of the baby's birth. If your partner has a multiple birth, you are only allowed one period of paternity leave.

During paternity leave you receive Statutory Paternity Pay if you are still employed by your employer at the date of the birth, have been continuously employed by them for at least 26 weeks up to any day in the 15th week before the baby is due (for an adoption in the UK, the week you are matched), and earn an average of at least £129 a week before tax. Unlike the leave, these conditions were not removed in April 2026. Acas says it is paid for up to 2 weeks, and GOV.UK says it is paid in the same way as your wages, with Tax and National Insurance deducted. SPP is paid at:

• £194.32 per week (2026/27 rate), or
• 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower

Your contract might give you more than the statutory amounts. Acas calls this enhanced or contractual paternity pay, and GOV.UK says a company paternity scheme cannot offer you less than the statutory amounts. Acas says you do not have to pay Statutory Paternity Pay back if you do not return to work, and that enhanced pay might have to be repaid if your contract says so clearly.

There are two separate notices. You give notice of entitlement by the 15th week before the baby is due (or within 7 days of being matched, for adoption), then 28 days' notice of the dates of each block of leave you want to take. If it is not reasonably practicable to give either notice in time, the regulations say to give it as soon as is reasonably practicable. You need to tell them:

• The baby's expected week of birth
• Whether you want 1 or 2 weeks' leave, and if two, together or as two separate single weeks
• When you want each block to start
• A written declaration that you are the child's father or the husband, civil partner or partner of the mother, and that the leave is to care for the child or support the mother

You do not have to give a precise date for your leave. Instead, you can give a general time, such as the day of the birth or one week after.

GOV.UK says your employment rights are protected while you are on paternity leave. The regulations say you keep the benefit of all your terms and conditions of employment, other than those about wages or salary:

• ✓Yes: You still build up (accrue) your usual holiday entitlement
• ✓Yes: Only sums payable as wages or salary count as remuneration, so your other contractual terms carry on
• ✓Yes: Your employer must tell you about any promotion or other job opportunities, redundancies and reorganisations that could affect your job
• ✓Yes: After an isolated period of paternity leave you are entitled to return to the job you had before your absence
• ✓Yes: A dismissal because of paternity leave is automatically unfair, and you must not be subjected to detriment for taking or planning to take it

You can take unpaid leave to accompany a pregnant woman to 2 antenatal appointments if you are the baby's father, the expectant mother's spouse or civil partner, in a long-term relationship with the expectant mother, or the intended parent in a surrogacy arrangement. You can take up to 6 and a half hours per appointment, and your employer can choose to give you longer. You can apply for leave immediately if you are a permanent employee, and an agency worker needs to have been doing a job for 12 weeks before they qualify.

If you are adopting a child, you can take unpaid leave to attend 2 adoption appointments after you have been matched with a child, up to 6 and a half hours per appointment.

Acas says anyone taking paternity leave is protected by law against detriment and unfair dismissal, under the Equality Act 2010 and the Employment Rights Act 1996. An employer must not treat you worse, or make your situation worse, because you took or planned to take paternity leave.

Acas gives these examples of detriment: bullying, harassment, turning down your training requests without good reason, overlooking you for promotion or development, and reducing your hours without good reason.

A dismissal because you are on paternity leave is automatically unfair, whatever your length of service, and your employer must give you the reasons in writing. For other problems, Acas says to talk to your employer first, then raise a grievance, and if it is still not resolved you can make an employment tribunal claim.

If you were also treated worse because of your sex or another protected characteristic, see our guide to discrimination at work. For a dismissal, see our unfair dismissal guide. More guides on pay, leave and dismissal are in our employment rights section.

From 6 April 2026 there is a separate right if the mother, main adopter or main intended parent of your child dies. GOV.UK says you can take unpaid leave from the day after the death, in one continuous block, of up to 52 weeks' leave, depending on when the death happened and when your child was born or placed with you. This is separate from ordinary paternity leave, and it can be much longer.

• ✓Yes: The mother, main adopter or main intended parent must have died on or after 6 April 2026
• ✓Yes: Your child must be less than a year old (or, if adopted, placed with you less than a year ago)
• ✓Yes: You must be the child's father, or the spouse or partner of the mother, main adopter or main intended parent
• ✓Yes: You must have the main caring responsibility for your child, and be taking the leave to care for them
• ✓Yes: You must be classed as an employee and employed in England, Scotland or Wales
• ✓Yes: It is a day one right: it does not matter how long you have been with your employer, how many hours you work or how much you are paid
• ✓Yes: Up to 52 weeks, taken in one continuous block, finishing by your child's first birthday (or the first anniversary of the adoption placement)

Notice: if your leave starts in the first 8 weeks after the death, tell your employer before you are due to start work on the first day of leave; you can do this over the phone, in person or in writing. If you want to start more than 8 weeks after the death, tell your employer at least a week before, in writing.

If you want more than two weeks with your new child, you and your partner can use Shared Parental Leave (SPL). This allows you to share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of Shared Parental Pay between you.

• To get SPL, you or your partner has to take less than the 52 weeks of maternity or adoption leave and use the rest as SPL
• You can book up to 3 separate blocks of SPL, or more if your employer agrees, and you can take leave at different times or both at the same time
• You can take paternity leave and pay before or after SPL and Shared Parental Pay
• Shared Parental Pay is paid at the same rate as SPP: £194.32/week or 90% of earnings, whichever is lower
• You must give your employer at least 8 weeks' notice before you want to begin a block of SPL

Both parents must share responsibility for the child at birth and meet work and pay criteria, and to take SPL you must be an employee, not a worker. SPL is made up of maternity or adoption leave that is not taken, so our maternity leave guide explains the other side. GOV.UK says you can take paternity leave and unpaid parental leave in any order, and our unpaid parental leave guide covers that.