Parental leave approved then denied

[Unorganisedchaos2]

Hoping someone can advise...

I joined my current company as a permanent employee in August 2023. I work for a large corporate organisation with 10000+ employees.

Last week with the support of my manager I submitted a parental leave application for one week in August and another in October (to cover school holidays)

This was approved a few days later with details of how to ensure my time booked correctly to show as unpaid leave etc. Today I've received an email to say that the leave was approved in error due to the contract I have (there are employees on lots of different T&C's) Im not actually eligible - Im only eligible to take leave for a child under 5 and DD is 6.

I've been using the information on https://www.gov.uk/parental-leave/entitlement and I cant see anything that says the cut off is 5 years old but maybe Im cherry picking??

I really struggle to cover the school holidays and Im conscious that there will only be a few years where DD will really want to spend time with me during the holidays so was really looking forward to this time😅

Parental leave is 1 week per year up till age 18.
companies may have different policies. They can deny it and select particular days

You can take up to 4 weeks in any one year but a maximum of 18 weeks in total up to child's 18th birthday.

It's 13 weeks until the child is 18. Minimum block of one week and maximum of 4

Ignore this. Not sure how it posted!

They're wrong that you're only entitled to take it for an under 5. The issue you're going to have, though, is that you're entitled to the leave, but not to take it whenever you want. They are able to say that you can take it but at a different date which falls outside the school holidays - at which point it's presumably pretty useless to you.

@Danikm151 surely employers can only have different policies if it offers more than statutory entitlement not less

You definitely have the statutory right to parental leave in this situation. I wonder whether your company also offers contractual rights to parental leave to certain employees and that that is what HR think you have applied for? Is there a form that you had to fill in that would reference what type of leave you have applied for? You are entitled by statute to take the weeks that you have mentioned here. The only thing that your company could do would be to postpone it for up to six months for business reasons which doesn’t sound like it applies here. Try looking at the ACAS website which has helpful resources. Good luck and don’t give up. I suspect there has just been some confusion along the way.

Thank you, I'll push back on this.

I had a chat with my team and manager to work out the best weeks to take to work round leave that had already been requested by the rest of the team and even agreed to moved some existing annual leave to accommodate that. My managers were fully supportive (they are all parents themselves) it seems its gone to an outsourced HR department who have said "computer says no"

There is also a group within the company that supports working parents so I'll reach out to them and see what they say.

Im just disappointed as I work full time and was really looking forward to the extra time with DD

Thank you, good to hear there is still hope.

Possibly there has been some miscommunication, when I forwarded the initial email with the approval, my manager was so pleased for me and had already blocked out the dates agreed on the holiday calendar after we agreed them as if it was a formality.

I have asked HR to confirm so we'll see what they come back with ..

My email has been bounced around three different HR people the last being away until Monday so it doesnt look like Im getting an answer this week :(

What was the outcome Op as I’m experiencing something similar? Thanks

This. The basic requirement is UK law. My company offer a week of it paid as a benefit (very grateful!) but this is definitely in addition to the statutory minimum.