Leave

[wingingit1987]

Posting following a discussion with my sister and her partner this evening. They are considering their options with regards to starting a family (both females). One of the subjects that came up is leave following the baby’s birth. What sort of leave is there for non birthing parent? Is it paternity leave?

I assume paternity leave but can’t you split maternity leave now I’m sure it was changed recently?

Shared parental leave maybe?
But this means that the woman giving birth has to cut her maternity leave short to pass to the other parent.

I thought possibly paternity leave. Thank you

Yes non birthing parents would get paternity leave

Yes, my wife got paternity leave when we had our baby as is entitled. Unfortunately most companies haven't updated policies to include more inclusive language and make it clearer.
You can split maternity leave but not sure how it works. What I would say as the birth parent, I'm not sure I would have felt physically or emotionally ready to go back to work until at least 9 months post birth, so very thankful to have an understanding wife who didn't mind not sharing!

Shared parental leave is a legal right.

When my DC were born the legal right to time off as the birthing Mum was as follows
6 weeks
16 weeks
26 weeks

So long paid maternity leave has only be around for 18 years I think??

You get paternity leave, and you can, if eligible, also take shared parental leave (split with the birth mother).

Birth mother has to take 2 weeks of maternity leave, and can then either stay on maternity leave or, if eligible, switch to SPL. In my experience there are some advantages to SPL that mat leave doesn't offer, such as being able to take it in three separate blocks, with returns to work in between if you want, and being entitled to more paid keeping in touch days. So birth mother may want to consider taking SPL even if not actually sharing it.

You are also entitled to take unpaid parental leave - you can take up to four weeks of this in any one year, up to a total of 18 weeks in the child's first 18 years. Normally your work can ask you to change the dates you apply for to suit business needs but I think if you are applying to take it immediately following on from paternity leave, they can't say no. So if you want to take 6 weeks off, and can afford four of them to be unpaid, you can definitely get it by taking 2 weeks paternity and then 4 weeks parental.

Otherwise you can also try to be strategic with both of your annual leave entitlements.

Exactly what @ZacharinaQuack said. My wife took two weeks paid 'paternity' leave (yes, it's still called that!), followed by two weeks annual leave (she's a teacher, so it was the Christmas holidays), followed by two weeks unpaid parental leave. So many people don't realise they are entitled to parental leave, so make sure you tell everyone you know about it!

Having my wife at home with me and our baby for the first six weeks was so wonderful for all three of us (although baby was asleep most of the time so probably didn't care that much!).

Depends on your work policy really. I work for a company that have parental leave that it doesn't matter who is giving birth you are entitled to a years leave split into a couple of blocks.

I’m the non-birthing parent and I took 2 weeks paternity leave & 2 weeks annual leave. We chose shared parental leave so my wife had the first 9 months and I had the last 3 although they were unpaid. She also tagged annual leave onto the end of her maternity which meant she had 2 months off out of the 3 with me.

I’m pregnant this time round and we are doing it the opposite way.

My workplace has enhanced parental leave. All parents get 4months paid if they take a 6month block. The mum giving birth (for a same sex relationship) would get the government maternity pay for the unpaid parts of the 6months plus the additional 3months.
Check the policy at your workplace. The non birth mum should get everything detailed in the paternity section.
This is also the same for adoption