Unpaid parental leave

Eligibility  

You can take unpaid parental leave if you have: 

• more than 1 years’ continuous service within local government 
• parental responsibility for a child under 18 years old  

You have parental responsibility if you’re a child’s:  

• birth parent  
• adoptive parent  
• foster parent
• step parent 
• grandparent with a significant parenting role 

How much leave you can take 

You can take up to 18 weeks unpaid leave for each child until their 18th birthday, including immediately after maternity or adoption leave. 

Legally, you can only take up to 4 weeks per year. However, we offer extra flexibility to help you to manage your family commitments.

You can choose how to take your leave, for example:  

• 18 weeks in a row 
• single weeks 
• full or half days  
• part-time or reduced hours  

A week is equal to the length of time you normally works over 7 days. 

You can request up to 10 day's paid compassionate leave to deal with a serious or terminal illness or injury. See compassionate leave for more details.

Adding parental leave to maternity, shared parental, adoption or paternity leave

You can use parental leave to make your maternity, shared parental, adoption or paternity leave longer.

For example, you could take your 2 weeks' paternity leave entitlement, followed by a couple of weeks of unpaid parental leave after your baby is born. So you'd get a longer block of time off work your new baby.

Asking your manager for parental leave

Speak to your manager about taking parental leave. You will need to give notice in advance of the start date. You should give:

• 7 days' notice before the start date if you want to take less than 18 weeks leave
• 21 days' notice if you want to take the leave as a block of 18 weeks
• 21 days before your baby is due or your adoption placement is due to start if you want to add parental leave to your maternity, adoption or paternity leave

When your manager can postpone parental leave

Your manager can postpone your parental leave for up to 3 months if it's going to be disruptive to work.

For example, you want to take a week of parental leave but are about to start a big project, your manager may tell you to take the leave later in the year when the project is finished.

If your manager has to postpone a leave period, they must give written notice within 7 days of you making the request, with the reasons for the postponement and when the leave can be taken.

Leave cannot be postponed beyond the date of your child’s 18th birthday.

Booking parental leave

If asked, you should provide your manager with a copy of the child’s birth certificate or an explanation of your parental responsibilities for verification purposes. 

Your manager should confirm in writing whether they approve or want to postpone your leave.  

Once agreed, your leave should be recorded in My Oracle under ‘Unpaid leave’. Then choose the 'Parental' option.

Keep track of how much you have used of your allowance using a Parental leave record form (DOC, 94KB). 

You can find out more about your entitlement in our family friendly leave and pay guide.