Overview

The government’s long debated proposal to allow mothers to pass a portion of their maternity leave and pay fathers is expected to finally come into force on 6 April 2010. The mother and father will together be entitled to share a total period of 39 weeks statutory maternity or paternity pay between them. The earliest a father will be able to take additional paternity leave ("APL") will be 20 weeks from the birth of child. APL can last for up to a maximum of 26 weeks. So for example, if the woman returns to work after 30 weeks, the father will then be entitled to take the outstanding balance of 22 weeks from the woman’s statutory maternity leave of 52 weeks and during that period receive statutory paternity pay for 9 weeks – being the balance of the total 39 week statutory pay period.

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