The mother?
Yes, automatically.
The father?
England and Wales
Yes, automatically if the mother and father are married at the date of the birth.
Scotland
Yes, automatically if the mother and father are married at the date of conception or if the mother and father married after the date of conception.
And otherwise?
England and Wales
The father can get parental responsibility if he:
- marries the mother after the birth, or
- is registered as the father on the birth certificate (after 2003)
A second female partner, who is married to or in a civil partnership with the mother at the time of treatment (eg donor insemination or fertility treatment) will automatically have parental responsibility. Note that this will not be the case if the conception was the result of sexual intercourse or the wife/civil partner of the biological mother not consenting to the conception.
Scotland
The father can get parental responsibility if he jointly registered the child’s birth with the birth mother (after 4 May 2006).
A second female partner will also have parental responsibility provided they are in a civil partnership or marriage with the woman at the time they have:
-
the egg donation
-
the embryo transfer, or
-
the donor insemination treatment which produces the child
England, Wales and Scotland
Parental responsibility can be agreed (eg for an unmarried father, the unmarried same-sex partner or a step-parent in addition to the natural parents) and then confirmed in a correctly completed Parental responsibility agreement (for England and Wales) or Parental responsibilities and parental rights agreement (for Scotland), or can be ordered by the court.
More than one person (or organisation such as the local authority) can have parental responsibility and if you have parental responsibility you don't stop until the child reaches 18 or is adopted (at which point the adoptive parents have the parental responsibility).
If both parents have died, the guardian of the child will have parental responsibility.