Changes to Paternity Leave Regulations – March 2024

There are a multitude of changes coming to employment regulations in 2024, just one of them is to statutory paternity leave. The changes come into effect on the 8^th of March and employers should consider updating their policies now.

The updated regulations will apply where the following is on or after 6 April 2024.

• the expected week of birth,
• the expected date of placement for adoption,
• or the expected date of entry into Great Britain for adoption.

There are three main changes coming to the way statutory paternity leave will work after the changes come into effect:

Firstly, employees will be able to choose to take their two weeks of leave as two non-consecutive weeks or as two single periods of a week. This will provide greater flexibility for employees and the opportunity to split their leave into two separate blocks of a week.

Next, under previous regulations, employees taking paternity leave would need to do so within 56 days of the birth or adoption placement. They will now have a longer timeframe in which to take their leave, which will increase to 52 weeks after the birth or adoption placement.

Finally, providing notice of entitlement to take paternity leave must be given during or before the 15^th week before the expected week of birth and 28 days’ notice for each period of leave taken (if the leave is split into more than one block).

The government will be updating its online guidance when the changes come into effect, but it’s important that employers take steps to update their existing policies. Therefore, communicating the changes to staff in good time in order to avoid any conflict between internal policies and statutory regulations.

There are several other changes coming to the employment legislation landscape in 2024, which may be tricky for employers to keep track of. These changes include:

• The introduction of Carer’s Leave
• Changes to ways of calculating holiday entitlement for irregular workers and part-year workers.
• The opportunity to pay ‘rolled up’ holiday pay for irregular workers and part-year workers.
• The usual increases to national minimum wage rates.
• Changes to flexible working regulations.

If you need support to stay on top of the changes or to make the appropriate amendments to your policies and procedures, contact our HR Partnership team at HRPartnership@JacksonHogg.com or Lauren Bathan.