This policy sets out the rights of employees in relation to unpaid time off to look after a child’s welfare, available for children up to their 18th birthday.

This policy aims to detail the employee’s rights, entitlements, the procedure for claiming entitlements and the responsibilities of employees, managers and HR committee.

3.0 Employee’s parental related rights

Employees have certain rights under the law, some of which depend on their length of service:

employees have the right to up to 18 weeks unpaid Parental Leave to look after a child’s welfare, up to their 18th birthday
the right not to be dismissed due to Parental Leave
when returning to work after four weeks of Parental Leave or less, the employee has the right to return to the job they left.
When returning to work after more than four weeks Parental leave, the employee has the right to return to their job or a similar job (if it is not possible to give them their old job). Similar means the job has the same or better terms and conditions. If the employee unreasonably refuses to take the similar job, then this will be taken as their resignation.

4.0 Parental Leave

4.1 Eligibility

To be eligible for Parental Leave, all of the following conditions must apply:

be an employee
have one years’ continuous service by the date Parental Leave is requested to start
be named on the child’s birth certificate or adoption certificate, or they have or expect to have parental responsibility
the child is under 18 years old
the employee is not a foster parent (unless they’ve secured parental responsibility through the courts)

Employees are entitled to take up to 18 weeks’ Parental Leave. A week is based on the employee’s working pattern, eg if they work Monday to Wednesday, a week is 3 days.

4.2 Proof

The manager can ask for proof, eg a birth certificate, but should only do this once, not each time the employee requests leave. The evidence should be retained on their personnel file.

4.3 Leave entitlement

Up to 18 weeks Parental Leave can be taken for each child, up to the child’s 18th birthday.

Parental Leave can be taken up to a maximum of four weeks per year for each child.

Parental Leave should be taken in blocks of whole weeks rather than individual days. If the child is disabled, then odd days may be taken.

Parental Leave is counted towards continuous service.

Parental Leave is connected to each child, not the employee’s job. Therefore if an employee joins CWPC from another employer, they can use their remaining Parental Leave assuming they are eligible. Likewise, if an employee leaves CWPC, they can use the remaining Parental Leave with their new employer.

4.4 Notice

Employees must give 21 days’ notice before their intended start date.

If they or their partner are having a baby or adopting, it is 21 days before the week the baby or child is expected / placed.

Employee should give notice to their manager.

Managers should respond within seven days of receipt of a request. Any correspondence should be forwarded to HR committee for the employee’s personnel records and for processing through the relevant payroll.

4.5 Postponing Parental Leave

A manager can postpone leave if there is a significant business reason for doing so, eg it would cause a serious disruption to the business at that time. If the leave needs to be postponed, the manager should respond to the employee within seven days of receiving the original request and suggest a new start date. This must be within six months of the original requested start date.

Leave cannot be postponed where it follows a period of paternity, adoption or maternity leave, or where it would mean that the employee no longer qualifies for parental leave.

5.0 Pay during Parental Leave

Parental Leave is unpaid, therefore the number of days leave will be deducted from the relevant salary payment.

It will show on an employee’s payslip as “unpaid leave”.

6.0 Right not to be dismissed

Employees taking Parental Leave have the right not to be dismissed or discriminated against for any reason connected with their leave.

However, employees can be made redundant. In a genuine redundancy situation, and where there is no suitable alternative work available, then they can lawfully be made redundant, providing that Parental Leave is not the reason for redundancy.

7.0 During Parental Leave

7.1 Status of the Contract of Employment during Parental Leave

During Parental Leave, all terms and conditions of employment continue with the exception of remuneration.

For example, employees continue to accrue holiday entitlement, including statutory holidays while on Parental Leave.

7.2 Making contact while on Parental Leave

The council are entitled to make reasonable contact with employees during Parental Leave. They may contact employees to discuss whether or not the planned date of return to work has changed or is likely to do so, or to discuss any flexible working arrangements that would make return to work easier. Managers may also contact employees to let them know of any changes at work, or just to let them know what’s going on in the team and generally keep them up to date.

Employees are also entitled to make reasonable contact with the council to discuss a variety of things or gain clarification.

7.3 Pension contributions and lost pension

Employees who are members of the local government pension scheme will pay pension contributions based on their income during Parental Leave.

As Parental Leave is unpaid, pension contributions will stop and this part of their pension will become “lost”. Employees have the option to buy back the lost pension when they return to work. There are two options, which are detailed below.

7.3.1 Shared Cost Additional Pension Contributions (SCAPCs)

If the employee wants to pay SCAPCs, they must elect to do so with 30 days of returning to work. The employee will pay one third of the cost, while CWPC will pay two thirds. Employees can pay SCAPCs as a one-off lump sum or as regular payments over a period of time. Employees should inform their manager in writing if they choose this option.

7.3.2 Additional Pension Contributions (APCs)

If the employee doesn’t pay SCAPCs within 30 days of their return to work they can still buy back the lost pension, but they will have to pay the whole cost under a regular APC contract. CWPC won’t pay any of the cost. Employees should inform their manager in writing if they choose this option.

For more information about pensions while on Parental Leave, go to the West Yorkshire Pension Fund website www.wypf.org.uk.

7.4 Other benefits or deductions from pay

If an employee has deductions from their pay, such as Union fees, these will continue unless the employee instructs the HR committee to stop them. This must be done in writing or via email and needs to be received before the 5th of the month in which the deduction is to stop.

If an employee is already signed up for childcare vouchers, and takes Parental Leave for another child, the employee is responsible for making payments for the childcare vouchers while they are on unpaid Parental Leave.

7.5 Sickness during Parental Leave

If an employee becomes sick while on Parental Leave, they must submit a fit note from their GP to their manager as soon as possible. Parental Leave will stop and normal sickness rules will apply.

8.0 Returning to Work

If the employee decides not to return to work at the end of their Parental Leave, they must tender their resignation giving their usual period of notice.

Managers should ensure that things have been prepared prior to the employee’s return to work, such as replacing IT equipment, mobile phones etc if necessary. Managers should also set aside time on the first day to welcome the employee back to work and update them on priorities, workloads etc and organise their 1-2-1 review meetings going forward.

If Parental Leave is taken to extend Maternity leave then the following return to work rights will apply:

If the employee extends Ordinary Maternity leave by up to four weeks Parental Leave, they retain the right to return to their original job on the same terms and conditions. If leave is extended by more than four weeks Parental Leave and it is not reasonably practicable to return to the same job, an alternative can be offered on no less favourable terms and conditions.

If an employee extends Additional Maternity leave by any period of Parental Leave the employee is also entitled to return to the same job, on the same terms and conditions as if they had not been absent. However, if there is some reason why it is not practicable for the employee to return to the same job they will be offered a similar job on terms and conditions that are no less favourable than their original job.

8.1 Sickness following Parental Leave

If an employee is too ill to come back to work at the end of their Parental Leave, the council’s normal sickness procedure will apply. The employee will need to provide the council with a fit note from their GP to cover their absence.

8.2 Childcare vouchers

Employees can exchange part of their salary for childcare vouchers, known as salary sacrifice. The employee and the council benefit by paying less National Insurance contributions on their income.

8.3 Requesting Flexible working

Employees may want to reduce or amend their hours to assist with childcare. Employees should follow the Flexible Working Policy and put their request in writing.

9.0 Documentation required

Managers and employees should ensure that all documentation, paperwork are forwarded to the HR committee. These documents will be added to the employees personnel file and/or processed during the next available pay run.

Any paperwork required to be processed through Payroll, must be received by the HR committee by the 5th of the month.