Paternity leave - flexibility?

[Rhian82]

I know that partner's are legally entitled to two weeks paternity leave, but does anyone know how flexible their employers have to be about when they take it?

My DH works in retail. He's booked his leave as two weeks starting at my due date, but what if the baby is early or late? Can he insist on starting it early if the baby's early, or can his employers say that that would be too much hassle (rotas would have to be rewritten, another manager borrowed from another store etc)?

as soon as you have the baby he gets 2 weeks paterniry leave regardless of when it is
he doesn't need to book it at all afaik

Is Paternity leave paid or unpaid - I can't remember !

Paid - but legally they only have to pay Statutory Paternity Pay, which is like SMP and £117 a week. DH's employers do actually give two weeks on full pay, which is great, I'm just not sure how flexible they have to be.

Compo - that sounds great, I don't suppose you've got a reference for it have you?

You only need to give his employers a note of your due date. It cannot be taken before the baby is here - only when baby has arrived so therefore his 2 weeks start when you have the baby although DH took his from the day I got out of hospital as I had a section. No point in him wasting time just visiting me when he would be better off at home with us as a family.

My DH's employer has asked that he takes his PL in week blocks, but not necessarily consecutive weeks (ie he could have one week now, and one week a bit later). My employer allows new dads 10 days PL in the first 6 weeks of the baby's life, but none of them need to be consecutive. We also allow 4 weeks PL for twins! But we are very flexible employers.