Unpaid parental leave vs shared parental leave

[BEL88]

Can unpaid parental leave be used to tag onto paternity leave? I know there's shared parental leave which is different but for the mother to keep their full year off and then dad to take unpaid leave using this instead. Is there anything to not allow this?

I don t know, I think your employer can limit it to 4 week pa and personally I would be wary of burning through it too quickly when it has to last until the child is 18. There are a lot of school hols to cover between now and then. Also have you fully factored in all the holiday accrual? You accrue holiday while on mat leave so many women end up with a tonne of it after a year off. Often work will be delighted for you to take it, either in a block straight before you go back or to effectively work part time for a few months, to get the balance down before you go back to FT.

Yes and the only time it can't be delayed for business reasons is straight after the birth of a child. Any more than four weeks a year per child is discretionary.

Im worried they'll make me take my holidays before Mat leave when I want to take more time off after baby (original plan was to do shared parental leave but the holiday issue would mean me going back before baby is 1). It's second baby so he's hoping to do 3 weeks child1 and 3 weeks new baby as well as paternity leave. Im part time already and happy to work up until due date

Why do you think they can do that? Are you signed off sick?

Sorry should have said my 2024 holidays which run jan - April I'm worried about them making me take this before, not the ones I accrue. In the company documents it's got how it's recommended to take AL prior to starting Maternity leave...

This isn't really about my holidays though, it's whether my husband would not be allowed to use unpaid parental leave after paternity?

My husband used unpaid leave when his shared parental leave had finished, he did give slightly more notice than required so they knew to keep his leave cover on for a few more weeks.

https://www.gov.uk/parental-leave/delaying-leave

Check whether the holiday policy I legal, I don't think they can force you to take it before.

I have already told you you can and that it can't be refused at that time even for business reasons.

Thank you for the advice. Seems to all be getting approved so far!