When will the government extend paid maternity leave and paternity leave?

In 2004 the government announced plans to extend paid maternity leave to twelve months by the end of the Parliament. While paid maternity leave was extended from six to nine months in 2007, the government has now put on hold plans to extend paid maternity leave to twelve months and has instead focussed on improving paternity leave provision.

The Work and Families Act 2006 included scope to give working fathers and partners of new mothers a new right to up to 26 weeks additional paternity leave.

During November 2009 the government  issued a consultation on the Additional Paternity Leave and Pay Draft Regulations. If passed the Regulations will give fathers and partners of new mothers the right to take up to six months leave in the second six months of their child's life, as long as the mother has returned to work. The leave will be paid at the same rate as Statutory Maternity Pay if it is taken during the mother's 39 week maternity pay period.

The government intends that the new regulations will come into force by April 2010 and will apply to parents whose children are due on or after 03 April 2011.