Ordinary parental leave policy

Parents or adoptive parents, who have continuous service of one year or more, may take up to 18 weeks’ unpaid ordinary parental leave until the child’s 18th birthday. The total period of unpaid parental leave available to eligible employees is 18 weeks per parent per child.

Parental leave has to be taken in blocks of weeks (or days in the case of those with disabled children), up to a maximum of 4 weeks per year. Any leave taken with past employers will count towards the 18-week limit for each child.

You must give 21 days' notice when you want to take parental leave. Such applications should be addressed to your manager. If you wish to take ordinary parental leave immediately after the birth or adoption of your child(ren), you must give 21 days' notice before the beginning of the expected week of childbirth. In the case of adoption, you must give 21 days’ notice of the expected week of placement, wherever possible.

Except in the case where you wish to take ordinary parental leave immediately after the birth or adoption of your child(ren), any leave you request may be postponed by the Company by up to six months from the date requested where it is considered that your absence would unduly disrupt the business. Examples of such situations are:

• Seasonal peak work requirements
• Where a significant proportion of the workforce applies for ordinary parental leave at the same time
• Where the absence of a key employee at a particular time would adversely affect the business

If, because of postponement, the period of ordinary parental leave falls after your entitlement, then you will be allowed to take the leave after that date.

We reserve the right to request sight of evidence that you are the parent of a child or have parental responsibility for the child.

At the end of any parental leave of up to four weeks’ duration, you are guaranteed the right to return to the same job as before.

If the leave is for a longer period than four weeks, you are entitled to return to the same job, or if that is not reasonably practical, to a similar job, with similar or better conditions.

If parental leave follows additional maternity leave and it would not have been reasonably practical for you to return to your previous job, and it is still not reasonably practical at the end of parental leave, you are entitled to return to a similar job which has the same or better status, terms and conditions as your old job.