Unpaid parental leave

[summerlovingvibes]

Has anyone done this? The government website says 18 weeks per child, max of 4 weeks in a year.

I'm thinking of asking work if I can have some next year to spend some time quality with DD1 before she starts school.

Just nervous about asking as only just come back off mat leave (with DD2) ... Will my work colleagues hate me?
What's your experience of asking / having it? Were you met with any objection / difficulties?

Hello there. Yes, I’m using all 4 weeks of my parental leave this year as part of my return to work after maternity leave. My work have been really flexible with how I take it; I’m taking one or two days every month, in combination with annual leave, to make my overall working week shorter while remaining full time contractually for 10 months.

My employer was great about it; no raised eyebrows or frustration. My colleagues also know that this is what I’m doing and nothing untoward has been said…or at least not to me! Ha.

It’s a statutory entitlement so you really needn’t feel worried about requesting it. You’ve got to do what’s best for your / your family’s circumstances. Forget everyone else!

This time with our children is so precious and goes so quickly. Nobody ever wishes they spent more time at work, but literally everyone I’ve ever met with older or grown up children tells me to cherish them being little, so that’s what I’m trying to do (to varying degrees of success depending on the temperament of my toddler 😂)

Not sure how helpful this response is but I’d definitely say to go for it! ❤️

I would love to do something like the previous poster is doing but you only get 18 weeks in total and i’m worried I’ll need the time later on to cover school holidays, especially during primary school so I will probably save it.

I manage a team and am always surprised at how little people use this. Those who struggle with summer holiday cover could take a couple of weeks every summer, particularly if they have more than one child as the entitlement is per child.
Maybe it is because it is unpaid. I did think it had to be in blocks though, not odd days here and there.
I heard of one colleague who used it several summers in a row and her UC topped her up to normal earnings and during the time off she worked privately doing beauty treatments. I think that is advising the system somewhat.
Maybe it needs to be more widely advertised but in my experience, the fact that it is unpaid puts people off.

The only person who has ever requested it in our company was a single, non resident parent. His contact was pretty much all the school holidays and his ex gave him no flexibility so he took unpaid leave to cover it.

the fact it is unpaid ours everyone else off.

Thanks all.

I think I'll go for it / request it next year and see if they will let me tack annual leave onto it.

My understanding is that it is 18 weeks per child, with a max of 4 in a block. So does that mean I could request 4 weeks per child consecutively (therefore 8 weeks total)? Or is it 4 weeks max in a go regardless of number of children?

It’s 4 weeks per year per child, so you can request up to 8 weeks per annum for 2 children.

The guidance states it must be taken in whole weeks unless your employer agrees otherwise. Mine agreed for me to take it however I choose, so it’s worth exploring how yours would be willing to authorise it. A whole week or more unpaid is a big hit financially which is why I’m taking it more sporadically.

Do be aware that your employer can delay it for business reasons eg. you have asked to take it during your busiest period or you have asked to take it after other colleagues have already booked annual leave. So don't rely on it for specific dates.

It's up to four weeks per child per year, so you can request 8 weeks to cover both children. I don't think you need to worry about your colleagues, because it's up to your employer to assess whether it is compatible with business needs. If it isn't, they can ask that you take it at a different time.

I take two weeks parental leave a year, usually one of the summer weeks and october half term - you can only do whole weeks so not so good when there's public holidays like over Easter. Splitting it also means less of a financial hit in one month. As it's unpaid it's not really different to schemes to buy extra holiday days, although those usually have the benefit of spreading the cost over the year.

Used to be a bit of a faff to organise but these days we have an online system for leave booking and it's just another type of leave for the line manager to approve.

I encourage people to use it but takeup is pretty low, and it's not something that gets publicised much.

I had no idea this was a thing? I thought it was to cover when your child was sick etc. I didnt know it was something that could be asked for.

That is Emergency Dependents Leave. It is meant to be 1/2 days to cover emergencies and can be used by anyone who has someone who is dependent on them so for example my dh used it when his dad went into hospital and he had to organise care for his mum with dementia. https://www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants

Unpaid Parental Leave is different. https://www.gov.uk/parental-leave/entitlement

I take a week each year and my company deducts days pay per month over five months - could that be an option?

every day is a school day!

Yes, I have taken 4 weeks unpaid parental leave pretty much every year I have been a parent. It is time for me to spend with my kids, time I entitled to ask for and don't feel guilty about taking because it is unpaid. It is essentially a different way of working part time.

The 4 weeks per year is per child by the way. Not that I've ever taken more than 4 weeks in one year (except tagged on to maternity leave), but it is an option if you want to apply for more than 4 weeks and have more than one child.

Some employers have no experience of this type of leave because fewer people take it (because it is unpaid). Just keep pointing them at the gov.uk website and DO NOT APOLOGISE. It is your right to ask for it, and there's no apology needed.

I think pps are right that people are put off because it’s unpaid. However, the other thing that means it’s not as widely used as it could be is the fact that there’s no guarantee you can take the leave when you want/need it. While your employer must allow you to take the leave if you ask for it, they can say that the time you have requested it doesn’t suit business needs and ask you to take it at a different time. If you’re asking for it so you can cover school holidays, it’s not much use if they say you can only take it in the first week of October.

You can also claim universal credit if you are eligible while you are on it means I got £600ish rather than nothing so that's useful too!

I've used it for years. I took a week this year when DS started his GCSE's.
I have been very lucky though that since my dc's started school I've been the only person in my team who has school age dc's. I used to take the unpaid weeks in school hols.

Worth noting that employers can only ask you to delay if there is a significant business reason which would cause serious disruption to the business and if they do they must

• must write explaining why within 7 days of the original request
• suggest a new start date - this must be within 6 months of the requested start date
• can’t change the amount of leave being requested

Thanks all. I think it will be something completely new to my employer as a few years ago I was the very first person to go on maternity leave! Most of our workers have grown up kids when they start. Since my first, there has been one other person go on mat leave, and then it was back to me again! So they will lovvvvveeeee me when I start this new request 😂 But will just point them to the gov website!

I don't feel guilty as have my own work load so as long as I know in advance then I will wrap my work up and re-start when I come back.

Thanks for the tips to look at UC though, although I don't think I'll be eligible if it's based on household income, but I'll have a look to check.

So will request 4 weeks per child back to back next year and tack some A/L on too as I have loads to carry over this year due to mat leave.

Fingers crossed!

Yes, I've used this a few times - from a week up to a month. At my old company it was great as I still accrued annual leave. No issues at all. I used to take it on the month our annual bonus was paid so even though I had no salary for that month, I still had some income.

I haven't requested any at my new job yet but I plan to next summer.

I’m taking it for the first time from Monday for two weeks, tacked on to the end of three weeks annual leave. My second is about to start school so wanted to spend time with him and then cover the settling in period. Work were fine about it. Good luck!

Thanks @Diggersandunicorns - exactly what I want to use it for next year for primary school settling in. Hope it all goes ok!

Whilst you can take 4 weeks per year, per child, it is a maximum of 18 weeks up to their 18 th birthday, so if you take 4 weeks every year, it will run out quite quickly

@vdbfamily I don't take more than four per year (except once, around maternity leave). I also have four kids, so there's a lot of weeks to take over 10-15 years.

Does anyone know if you can use unpaid parental leave during a notice period? Eg if you have a 3 month notice period to leave your job but need to care for children during that time, can you have 4 weeks unpaid using your unpaid parental leave (all work would be wrapped up so no business disruption reason against it)?