Changes to statutory paternity leave in the UK in April 2024

The Government is proposing to amend the UK rules on statutory paternity leave to provide considerably more flexibility to fathers and partners. The amendments will:

• allow fathers and partners to take their leave as two separate one-week blocks, rather than having to choose at the outset whether to take one or two weeks of leave;
• allow them to take the leave at any time in the first year after the birth or adoption of the child (current rules require them to take it within the first eight weeks after birth or adoption);
• reduce the notice period required for each period of leave to four weeks (except in limited cases), enabling leave to be scheduled more easily around the needs of the family, (although different notice rules will continue to apply to adoptions);
• allow for more flexibility to vary the dates in an initial request for leave, again to better accommodate the unpredictable nature of life with a new baby or child. 

The amendments will apply to babies whose expected week of birth begins after 6 April 2024, and to children whose expected date of placement for adoption, or expected date of entry into Great Britain for adoption, is on or after 6 April 2024.