Maternity, Adoption, Paternity, Parental and Neonatal Care Leave Policies
(Including Flexible Working Requests)
New for 2025 - Neonatal Care Leave and Pay Policy
Working parents have the following legal rights at work:
- paid and unpaid maternity leave
- paid and unpaid paternity leave
- paid and unpaid adoption leave
- to request flexible working hours
- to share maternity / adoption leave and pay
- unpaid parental leave of up to 4 weeks per year
- paid and unpaid bereavement leave
for the death of a child
- paid neonatal care leave
To comply with current legislation it is advisable to ensure your business has policies on these rights
which fully comply with current UK employment law. Below we supply free policy templates which meet all these requirements
and which you can download and adapt for your business.
Free Maternity, Adoption, Paternity and Shared
Parental Leave Policy and Document Downloads
1. Integrated Policy on Leave and Pay for:
Maternity, Paternity, Parental and Parental Bereavement
This is a fully integrated policy
which cover all the statutory entitlements to maternity, adoption,
paternity and (shared / unpaid) parental leave and pay. This is a
good option for businesses which don't have any policies currently
in place. The policy has been updated to include the 2020 parental
bereavement provisions. **Updates for 2025 to cover the requirements
of the new Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act which came into law on
6 April 2025.
2. Shared Parental Leave
Policy
This policy relates to the statutory requirements around
shared parental leave and pay and is suitable if you already have
policies on maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave.
The policies below cover each individual element of parental
entitlements. You can adopt these policies individually or as a
suite of policies with the Shared Parental Leave Policy above.
3. Maternity Leave Policy
Covers all statutory maternity leave and pay arrangements for
pregnant employees.
4. Paternity Policy
Outlines the current statutory entitlements of employees whose
wife, civil partner or partner gives birth to a child. Paternity
leave is also available to an adoptive parent where a child is
matched or newly placed with them for adoption. This policy gives
details of the arrangements for paternity leave and pay.
5.
Adoption Policy
This policy sets out the statutory rights and
responsibilities of employees who are planning to adopt a child and
gives details of the arrangements for adoption leave and pay.
6. Parental Leave Policy
Outlines an employees right to 18 weeks unpaid
leave for the purpose of caring for a child. This is in addition to
the Shared Parental Leave rights.
7.Parental
Bereavement Leave Policy
Bereaved parents are entitled to two weeks’ leave following the death of a child under
the age of 18 or if they suffer a stillbirth from 24 weeks of pregnancy.
8. Procedure for Making a Flexible Working Request
Any member
of staff regardless of length of service can request flexible
working. Here is a template which you can use with mimimal
customisation for your business. It fully conforms to ACAS
guidelines and revised 2024 legal requirements.
9. Neonatal Care
Leave and Pay Policy
A new policy template introduced in 2025
to cover the requirements of the new Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay)
Act which came into law on 6 April 2025.
Useful Links
Ante-natal rights for fathers
Fathers and partners have a right to take unpaid time off work to
accompany a pregnant woman to see a midwife or obstetrician.The right is
to time off on up to two occasions for a maximum of 6.5 hours each, and
this is available without your employee having to have any qualifying
service - so is available from day one of their employment.
ACAS on Shared Parental Leave
Comprehensive guidance and templates from ACAS with regard to shared parental leave.
Maternity and Paternity Online Calculator
If you need to calculate statutory maternity, adoption or paternity leave or pay, there is an online calculator
here provided by the Government website
