Unpaid parental leave changes

The current limitation on parents taking unpaid parental leave only until the child’s fifth birthday is to be removed with effect from 5 April 2015.

Draft regulations have been published which will extend the current right for parents of children under age five to take 18 weeks’ unpaid parental leave to parents of all children under age 18.

Unusually, the draft regulations do not include any transitional provisions. This means that if they are approved as currently written, parents of children age between five and 18 who have unused leave entitlement from when their children reached age five will re-qualify for unpaid parental leave from April 2015.