Unpaid parental leave when HR software books it (UK)

Unpaid parental leave lets parents take time off to care for a child at any point until the child turns 18. It is separate from maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave, and it is often the least understood of them. HR systems frequently get it wrong in predictable ways: an old service test still switched on, the wrong idea of a "week", a balance kept per employee instead of per child, or a request that can be refused at the click of a button. This page sets out the rules in Great Britain and where software goes wrong. It is for employees and for employers.

The short answer: an employee with responsibility for a child is entitled to 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave for that child, which can be used up to the child's 18th birthday. Since 6 April 2026 there is no qualifying period of service. Under the default rules, leave is taken in whole weeks, no more than 4 weeks a year per child, with at least 21 days' notice, and the employer can postpone it for up to six months but cannot refuse it.

Who qualifies

An employee qualifies if they have, or expect to have, responsibility for a child, which means parental responsibility (parental responsibilities in Scotland) or being registered as the child's father (reg 13 of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999). Until April 2026 the employee also needed one year's continuous employment. The Employment Rights Act 2025 removed that requirement, with effect from 6 April 2026 (SI 2026/15). An HR platform that still checks for a year's service before allowing a parental leave request is applying a rule that no longer exists.

How much and when

The entitlement is 18 weeks for each individual child (reg 14), so a parent of two children has 36 weeks in total, and the balance belongs to the child, not to the job. It cannot be used after the child's 18th birthday (reg 15). A week means the employee's normal working week; where hours vary, it is the total hours normally worked in a year divided by 52 (reg 14(2) and (3)). Leave taken in shorter periods adds up until it reaches a week (reg 14(4)).

The default rules: notice, blocks and postponement

Employers and employees can agree their own scheme through a collective or workforce agreement. Where the contract does not do that, the default rules in Schedule 2 apply (reg 16):

• Evidence: the employer may ask for reasonable evidence of the employee's responsibility for the child and of the child's date of birth or adoption placement (Sch 2 paras 1 and 2).
• Notice: the employee must give the start and end dates at least 21 days before the leave begins (para 3). Different notice rules apply to a father taking leave from the birth and to leave starting on an adoption placement (paras 4 and 5).
• Whole weeks: leave must be taken in a week or multiples of a week, unless the child is entitled to disability living allowance, armed forces independence payment or personal independence payment (para 7). A system that offers single days by default under the statutory scheme is out of line with the rules, unless the employer has chosen to allow it.
• 4 weeks a year: no more than 4 weeks per child in a year (para 8), counted from the date the employee first became entitled to parental leave for that child and each anniversary of it (para 9). That is not the holiday year or the calendar year.
• Postponement, not refusal: the employer may postpone if the business would be unduly disrupted, but must allow the same length of leave starting within six months, after consulting the employee, and give written notice with the reason and the new dates within 7 days of the employee's notice (para 6). Postponement is not allowed where a father's leave is to start on the birth or the leave is to start on an adoption placement.

Pay and protection

Parental leave is unpaid unless the contract says otherwise. During the leave the employee keeps the benefit of trust and confidence and of terms on notice, redundancy pay and disciplinary and grievance procedures (reg 17). After 4 weeks or less, the employee returns to the same job; after a longer period, to the same job or, if that is not reasonably practicable, a suitable and appropriate one (reg 18). Taking or seeking to take parental leave is protected from detriment (reg 19), and a dismissal for that reason is automatically unfair (reg 20).

If the employer unreasonably postpones the leave, or prevents or tries to prevent the employee from taking it, the employee can complain to an employment tribunal, which can award just and equitable compensation (Employment Rights Act 1996, s80). Since 1 October 2026 the time limit is six months, with early conciliation through Acas first.

Practical steps

• Employers: remove any one year service test from parental leave workflows. Track the 18 week balance per child, ask for the child's date of birth, apply a 21 day notice check, and count the 4 week cap from each child's entitlement anniversary. Replace any "reject" button with a postponement route that requires written reasons and new dates within 7 days.
• Employees: give written notice of the start and end dates at least 21 days ahead and keep a copy. If the system refuses the request or shows you as ineligible because of length of service, ask HR to check it against the 2026 change. For a sudden emergency, see time off for dependants; for paid leave around a birth, see maternity and paternity pay.

The Regulations extend to England, Wales and Scotland. This page is general information on the law in Great Britain as at 1 November 2026, not legal advice.