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Introduction to this document

Change of paternity leave request

An employee can vary their chosen paternity leave start date, but they must give you appropriate notice. You can also require the variation notice to be in writing, so you can provide our form for this purpose.

Change request

If, having given you notice of a period of paternity leave (see our Paternity Leave Request Form), an employee subsequently wants to vary the start date of that period of paternity leave, they can change the date as follows:

if they wish to change the start date to the child’s birth date or the date when the child is placed for adoption, they must notify you of this at least 28 days before either the first day of the expected week of childbirth (EWC) or the date they previously specified as the expected adoption placement date
if they wish to change the start date to a different predetermined date, they must notify you of this by whichever is the earliest of at least 28 days before their original predetermined date or at least 28 days before their new predetermined date
if they wish to change the start date to a different specified number of days after the date on which the child is born or placed for adoption, they must notify you of this by whichever is the earliest of at least 28 days before their original specified number of days after the first day of the EWC or the expected adoption placement date or at least 28 days before their new specified number of days after the first day of the EWC or the expected adoption placement date.

In each case, if it’s not reasonably practicable to comply with the relevant time limit, the employee must notify you of their variation as soon as reasonably practicable.

Completed form

As the employee’s notice must be in writing if you so request, we’ve drafted our Change of Paternity Leave Request to enable them to easily comply with the statutory requirements. It asks them to complete the details of their original chosen start date for the period of paternity leave and their new chosen start date and to confirm that they’re still taking the time off to care for the child or support the child’s mother/adopter. Once the employee submits this form to you, simply do a short acknowledgement letter or email confirming receipt of it and stating that their date change is approved.

Compulsory variation

Where the employee chose to begin their period of paternity leave on a predetermined date but the child hasn’t been born or placed for adoption by that date, they will be obliged to vary their start date by substituting a later predetermined date or choosing an alternative start date, and they must then give you notice of the variation as soon as reasonably practicable.