Pregnancy / Child(ren) and the Service
Parental Leave Regulations
Reference: Air Publication 3392 Volume 2 Leaflet 1722
Parental Leave is intended to allow parents, of either sex , to take time off from their normal employment for the purposes of caring for, or looking after the interests of their child.
It is unpaid.
Entitlement
In all cases, the parent claiming entitlement to Parental leave must have completed one year in the Service, calculated from the date of attestation or appointment to a commission.
All parents of children born after 15 Dec 99 are entitled to apply for Parental Leave, to be taken any time up to the child's 5th birthday. Adoptive parents will also be entitled to apply for Parental leave and, in recognition of the particular difficulties of adopting older children entitlement is until 5 years after the child was placed for adoption or when the child reaches the age of 18, whichever is the earlier.
Personnel applying for Parental Leave will be required to provide documentary evidence, in the form of a birth or adoption certificate, to demonstrate that the child meets the age criteria and they have parental responsibilities for that child. Parents who wish to claim Parental Leave entitlement on the basis of their parental responsibility for step-children will be required to demonstrate that they have acquired such responsibility by means of a court order or formal adoption process, since the natural parents retain parental right until such time as another adult acquires them due by course of law. Personnel will be permitted to apply for Parental Leave in advance of becoming entitled, subject to them providing appropriate supporting evidence, eg a medical certificate confirming the Expected Date of Confinement for a new child, or evidence of the adoption process being initiated.
Parents can apply to take a total of 13 weeks Parental Leave in respect of each child, however this is restricted to a maximum of 4 weeks in any 12-month period.
Multiple births therefore bring with them an additional entitlement to increased Parental Leave (twins, up to 26 weeks, triplets, up to 39 weeks etc.). In order to tie this entitlement in with the RAF's revised Common Leave Allowance, and to reflect the differing shift patterns in operation across the Service, the entitlement in respect of each child will be a total of 13 x 5 working days and 13 x 2 non-working days ie, 65 working days and 26 non-working days.
Parental Leave must be taken in blocks of 1 week (7 calendar days, 5 working and 2 non-working days).
If less than 1 week is taken, it will still count as a full week for the purposes of parental leave and the days not taken will be forfeited from the overall 13 week entitlement unless the child is disabled (see later). All Parental Leave must be taken before the Childs is 5 years of age, unless the child is disabled, or adopted, where special provisions apply, and any unused entitlement is therefore forfeited on the child's 5th birthday.
Personnel taking Parental Leave will be required to confirm that they will be spending the leave in pursuit of parenting activities with their child ; disciplinary or administrative action may be taken against any individual found to be abusing the entitlement for purposes unconnected with their child.
Disabled Children
For parents of disabled children ie, children who are entitled to a disability living allowance, Parental Leave may be taken in days or shorter periods than one calendar week. In addition, the 13 weeks leave need not be taken before the child reaches 5 years of age, but must be taken before the child's eighteenth birthday.
Financial, Career and Terms of Service Implications
As Parental Leave is unpaid alternative arrangements are to be made in respect of charges normally recovered from an individual's pay account. It is the responsibility of the individual, in consultation with the unit P Staff's, to determine what arrangements need to be put in place to ensure continuity of payment.
The law requires that any individual taking Parental leave must not be disadvantaged in terms of employment. Whilst on Parental leave, therefore, individuals will continue to be considered for promotion and appointments in line with their peers, albeit seniority in rank will be suspended at the commencement of Parental Leave and restarted once the individual returns to paid duty. The individual has the right to return to their pervious posts, but where this is not possible because of manning considerations have required the post to be filled during his or her absence, a post of equal status must be offered within the same establishment.
Period of unpaid leave do not count towards pension entitlement.
Personnel taking Parental leave may, therefore, be required to agree to an extension of service equal to the period of leave taken, in order not to jeopardize their entitlement to a pension, gratuity or committal bonus.
Personnel seconded to civilian or foreign organizations who are not paid by Ministry of Defence (ie NETMA) should seek advice from their employing organization about arrangements for Parental Leave.
Method of Application
Formal written applications are to be made in the format attached.
Personnel seeking a period of Parental Leave will be required to submit an application at least 21 days prior to the requested leave dates . Providing that the appropriate notice is given, Parental leave may be taken to precede or follow Maternity Leave. It may also be combined with an application for normal leave under the Common Leave Allowance provisions, subject to a line-managers agreement.
Additional Information: Maternity Leave
The entitlement to Parental Leave is a legal right and employers will be required by law to allow all parents to take up their maximum entitlement by the time a child reaches the upper age limit. There is, however, nor requirement for the requested dates to be granted. It is considered by the chain of command that the granting of Parental leave would be detrimental to the operation effectiveness of the unit in which an individual would be detrimental to the operation effectiveness of the unit in which an individual serves, then the leave may be postponed for up to 12 months. Such grounds might include instances where the requested leave dates coincide with a known Out of Area (OOA) detachment commitment, a pre-planned training course, a known future requirement for all manpower to be available for duty, or to ensure a minimum manning level necessary to maintain operational effectiveness. In order to ensure that justifiable grounds for denial or postponement of Parental Leave exist, applications must be countersigned at wg cdr lever where Parental Leave is being denied or postponed. Where Parental Leave is approved, authorization can be taken at the appropriate level for normal leaves ie. Flt/sqn cdr.
Where Parental Leave has been denied, the reason for postponing leave must be recorded on the application form and agreed dates for the deferred Parental Leave acknowledged, by the individual and the chain of command. Personnel granted Parental Leave will also be required to acknowledge that there may be operational grounds to recall them from leave and that they will be required to make alternative arrangements for their child if recalled to duty at short notice.
An individual who feels their rights in respect of parental leave have been denied may submit a redress of grievance in accordance with normal Service procedures.
Further Advice
For further advice please see your Personnel Services Staff.
The following is an application for parental leave.
(PDF format 127K)
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