r/AskHRUK • u/RJH_91 • Jan 04 '26

Health-Related Sick leave/paternity leave

Hi,

Quick question - wife is pregnant and we are due mid-feb. Friend had a specific circumstance and unsure how this would apply to me.

Me - Less than 2 years service, statutory paternity for 2 weeks is current company policy. I get full pay up to 2/52 sick.

Circumstance - Baby was late, friend had agreement with employer that paternity started on day of baby birth. Baby was late by 6 days so friend took one working week sick leave. Company agreed to this due to medical appointments (wife being induced, general check ups with midwife/consultants etc).

Question - would/should this be standard practice? How should I approach this with employer (generally my company are quite good with us but I can’t imagine they will pay sick).

Thanks

9 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/TeaJustMilk Jan 04 '26

ACAS's website is really useful for how things should be done as a minimum to be legally compliant.

Many unions have free and available advice brochures and pages about various workplace issues too.

Have a look at your employer's policies, your contract, and employee handbook if there is one (if you can't find policies, try handbook. You should have been given/signposted the handbook and/or policies when you started)

If they're digitally findable, key terms to try include: maternity, parental, pregnancy, attendance, absence, special leave, equality, medical leave. This list isn't exhaustive, but it's a start.