What are the changes to Statutory Paternity Leave and Pay?

From April 2026, statutory paternity leave will become a day-one right for eligible employees, following changes introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2023.

What is Changing?

Removal of the 26-week qualifying period for leave
Under the current rules, employees must have worked for their employer for at least 26 weeks before they can take Statutory Paternity Leave.

From April 2026, this 26-week qualifying period will be removed. This means eligible employees will be able to take up to two weeks’ statutory paternity leave from their first day of employment.

Paternity Leave and Shared Parental Leave
Currently, employees must take Statutory Paternity Leave before taking Shared Parental Leave. From April 2026, employees will be able to take paternity leave even after taking Shared Parental Leave.

What Stays the Same?

  • The amount of statutory paternity leave (up to two weeks) does not change.
  • The qualifying period for Statutory Paternity Pay remains in place. Notice requirements and eligibility criteria (other than the 26-week service requirement for leave) remain the same.

How Might this Affect your Business?

  • More employees will be able to access paternity leave sooner, even if they have recently started employment.
  • You may need to manage leave requests from employees with short service.
  • Managers and HR teams will need to understand that entitlement to leave and entitlement to pay are now separate (employees may qualify for leave from day one but not necessarily for statutory pay).

What do you Need to do?

  • Review your paternity leave policies and remove reference to the 26-week qualifying period for leave.
  • Review and update your Shared Parental Leave policies to reflect that employees no longer need to take paternity leave before Shared Parental Leave.
  • Update employment contracts where necessary.
  • Ensure payroll and HR systems clearly distinguish between entitlement to leave and entitlement to pay.
  • Train your managers on how to correctly process and respond to paternity leave requests.

What Else can you do?

  • Promote a supportive, family-friendly workplace culture
  • Plan proactively for temporary cover and workload management
  • Consider enhancing paternity pay beyond the statutory minimum as a recruitment and retention tool
  • Align paternity policies with wider wellbeing and equality strategies
  • Include Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave in your policies: eligible employees can take up to 52 weeks’ leave if a child’s mother or primary adopter dies within the first 12 months, with pay during this leave at the employer’s discretion

These changes reflect a continued shift towards more flexible and inclusive working practices. Businesses that prepare early will be best placed to manage disruption and strengthen employee engagement.

If you think that the changes in SSP will present challenges for your business or organisation book a free 20-minute consultation and we can talk through your particular challenges and find out how we could support you.