Changes to Maternity and Adoption Support Leave

From 8 March 2024, legislation changes affecting rights to paternity leave where expected births and adoptions are after 6 April 2024, come into effect.

The changes:

• Allow fathers or partners to take leave and pay in two non-consecutive weeks. Currently, one block of leave can be taken either as one week or two consecutive weeks
• Allow fathers or partners to take leave and pay at any point in the first year after the birth or adoption of their child, rather than within the first eight weeks as at present
• Shorten, in most cases, the notice required for each period of leave and pay (from fourteen weeks before the expected week of birth, to four weeks before each week of leave). For domestic adoption cases, the notice period for leave will remain as within seven days.

An updated Maternity and Adoption Support Leave Policy taking account of these changes is available to subscribing schools and academies in the HR ONE Policy Library.