husband taking hols when i have baby

[born2twinkle]

Hi, not sure where to post this but here goes. i am due to have my second baby on 26 Oct. My husband and I have decided he will not take paternity pay as we have a big mortgage and can't afford the drop in money. he has saved 2 weeks of hols that he hopes to take around the birth. of course we don't know exactly when this will be so I have asked him to ask his line manager if he can have his two weeks holiday when i have had the baby. Does his employer have to let him do this and if not is there any way around this without losing his full wage. I'm trying to get hubby organised now as when i had my first baby he had a weeks hols (was with different employer then) but i was in the hospital for a week so he spent a week in the bloody pub and returned to work just as i got out of hospital!
Any suggestions?

Depends on his employer. They don't have to let him have holiday when he wants. Could he take a week Paternity with a weeks leave after? That way he's got more chance of being able to specify the date.

thanks catweazle! H ehas spoke to the line maneger who says its ok for him to take the leave but if things get awkward i will bear the above in mind

There's no obligation to let him take holiday on the dates your baby is born - that's what paternity leave is designed for.

Having said that, a lot of employers are very reasonable about this type of thing. From their point of view, often having the employee away is the difficult thing, not the pay, so they'd rather you used holiday than paternity leave. As catweazle has said, he could take paternity leave followed by a week of holiday.

I presume you've checked that your other half's employer don't have an enhanced paternity scheme? Some employers will pay one, or even two, weeks of paternity leave at full pay.

was going to say what Ribena said; don't the company pay full pay for a week or two paternity leave? I think many do. My dh had two weeks at full pay.

checked OHs contract and they just offer statutory paternity pay. hubby doesnt use his hols for anything half the time so i would rather him use hols and not have to have to live on pittance of £117.18 for two weeks