To publicise parental leave

[Isntshelovely2024]

I have found a lot of parents at my work are unaware of parental leave and how it can be used. The premise is 18 weeks per child under the age of 18 - you can take a maximum of 4 weeks per year per child.
This leave is unpaid and your employer does not have to say yes to the date you choose but must allow you to take it within 6 months.
I think more awareness about this type of leave is needed, it’s vastly under used.

I would guess it's underused because lots of people can't afford to take time off unpaid. I know I can't.

Has to be used a minimum of a week at a time. If child has a disability, then 1 day minimum at a time.

I would love to use it but I know if I do I will be penalised further at work. It's already happened and I only explored the idea with my boss.

It’s not all unpaid where I work. I think it’s max 4 weeks per child paid - one week per child per year. I used a week of mine in the summer holidays and have just used another week for half term.

Yes 1 week blocks although my work allow single days for everyone

Wow this is really good

I think we will have to use some for childcare over school holidays. I've been self employed previously so have worked in the evenings, but now I'm starting a full time job there just isn't enough holiday between the two of us to cover school holidays.

Most people can't afford to sacrifice their wages so wouldn't use it anyway.

Yes! My dp works for NHS and one week per year of his is paid, up to 4 weeks per child over his length of service. We've got 2 dc so over his career it's 8 weeks paid leave,.one week a year.

His manager wasn't happy when he first put a request in, I think they try not to publicise it as very few people seem to use it.

He can still take the rest, it would just be unpaid.

@Invisimamma unfortunately the trust my DH works for doesn't offer this 👎🏻

I thought all nhs trusts did? It's usually pro rata to working pattern. I work equivalent of 3 days a week, so get 3 days paid leave per year, but can only take 1 day at a time. So if for example I need to take 3 days due to poorly child, 1st day is carers leave and following 2 days are annual leave, or unpaid leave if all AL gone.

Carer’s leave isn’t the same as parental leave.

No unfortunately he has to use annual leave, bring leave forward from next year, or take unpaid leave.

I know about it but can't afford to take a week unpaid sadly.

This depends on the cost and availability of childcare. Also some people have tighter budgets than others and quite frankly it’s something I’ll sacrifice other things to have

It's a statutorily right. Nothing to do with the employer or an offer from the employer. It's a legal entitlement!

I shared it with colleagues at work. Many have used it after I told them. It's unpaid but it's really something most people are not aware of. fwiw, I can only manage employment with using it. disabled children and no access to childcare. For many parents like me it's a lifeline. The alternative would be to give up work altogether which would be financially a lot worse than managing part time with unpaid parental leave. Just because you don't wanna use it, it doesn't mean it's not feasible for others. circumstance differ.

Does any one know if the allowance is per working parent? So can mum and dad take 18 weeks off pet child

It's per parent per child. Details here:
https://www.gov.uk/parental-leave

Will taking this leave affect your holiday entitlement?

I've known about it and haven't used it in case it does.

No, it's entirely separate and shouldn't affect your holiday entitlement - it's a statutory right.

it's nothing to do with annual leave. completely separate.

I used this for the first time this summer. Took 1 week parental leave along with my annual leave. It was the first time I felt I got a really good summer break, had time to enjoy just being with the kids, wasn't exhausted from trying to fit everything in to a couple of weeks of leave and the kids had more time just to be at home instead of holiday clubs etc. And 1 week didn't have a massive impact on my pay.

Would definitely do it again. Very few people in my work have used it before and some seemed surprised when I had so much time off over the summer and I explained I'd used some parental leave too.

I've never had a request for parental leave where I work. People use annual leave in the school holidays, and these dates are mostly fully booked so unlikely we'd have availability to add in additional leave unless they requested quick enough. We'd then reduce annual leave to account for this, so that we have enough cover.
Probably as it's unpaid it's not popular where I work.

It's not connected at all to your holiday allowance , has your employer implied that it is?