On 6th April, amended legislation surrounding paternity leave has been enforced and employers now face a raft of new laws to get their heads around. The Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010 entitle male employees who are fathers, partners of mothers or adopters to take up to 26 weeks’ paternity leave in the first year of the child’s life or its placement for adoption.

In essence, the father will be allowed to share maternity leave with the mother who will be able to return to work anytime after six months, leaving the father to take what is left of the remaining 12 months of the maternity leave period.

This will affect employees where the child’s expected week of birth is on or after April 2011 so employers will have a year to make provisions for how they will enforce these changes. There are a number of requirements to be satisfied, such as the mother returning to work while the father is receiving paid paternity leave so employers will need to discuss both parents’ plans with their employee in the run up to the birth.

Employers must make their employees aware of the requirement to provide the employer with a leave notice, an employee declaration and a mother declaration. These will outline details such as the expected week of birth, dates for leave and the date the mother intends to return to work etc.

The Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (General) Regulations 2010, that came into force on 6th April has introduced the entitlement for employees who are fathers, partners of mothers or adopters to receive an additional statutory paternity pay.

The Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (Weekly Rates) Regulations 2010 set out the weekly rates for this additional statutory paternity pay, introduced originally under the Work and Families Act 2006. Employers will have to pay an eligible employee a weekly rate that is the lesser of £124.88 and 90% of the employee’s normal weekly earnings.

This is a significant extension of the current paternity leave of up to two weeks so inevitably employers will be nervous about implementing the changes. While it is doubtful whether the majority of fathers will want to take the full 26 weeks, the amendments could herald a significant culture change from the workplace as we currently know it.

Employers must be prepared to sit down and discuss ways in which the regulations can be implemented and be open to employee’s suggestions on the way they work.