Employees have a variety of ‘family friendly’ rights, including:
- maternity or adoption leave of up to one year. The first 39 weeks of leave are paid at a statutory rate. For six weeks, the rate is 90% of normal salary. For the remaining 33 weeks, the rate is £156.66 or 90% of average weekly earnings (whichever is lower). For more information, read Statutory maternity pay
- two weeks' paid paternity leave (at either 90% of their average weekly earnings or £156.66, whichever is lower) plus the right to take any unused portion of the mother’s maternity leave. See Shared parental leave for more information
- unpaid parental leave for up to 18 weeks before a child’s eighteenth birthday. Normally, only 4 weeks of parental leave can be taken in any year
- parental bereavement leave of up to 2 weeks within one year following the death (or stillbirth) of a child. Parental bereavement leave can be paid or unpaid - for more information, read Parental bereavement leave
- reasonable unpaid time off to deal with domestic emergencies. See Bereavement leave and pay for more information