How does parental leave in the UK compare to other countries’ policies?

Parental leave is an ever-evolving area and, for employers, setting up good maternity and paternity leave policies should be a priority.

Let’s take a look at the UK’s approach to parental leave and how it compares to countries around the world.

Overview of parental leave in the UK

There are currently various leave types for parents in the UK, including maternity leave, paternity leave, shared leave and parental leave.

Maternity leave

Employees can take up to 52 weeks of maternity leave in the UK. This is made up of “ordinary maternity leave” covering the first 26 weeks and “additional maternity leave” covering the last 26 weeks.

As part of UK maternity law, employees are entitled to statutory maternity pay for up to 39 weeks of leave. This is usually broken down as follows:

• 90% of their average weekly earnings before tax for the first 6 weeks.
• £184.03 per week or 90% of their average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for the remaining 33 weeks.

Many companies will implement an enhanced maternity pay policy that entitles staff to more than the statutory maternity leave pay.

Maternity leave can be taken at any time, but no earlier than 11 weeks before the week of the baby’s due date (unless the baby is born earlier than expected).

Employees must take off the first two weeks following the birth of their child. For those who work in a factory, this rises to four weeks.

Research shows that some companies go even further for their employees, with 18% of those surveyed actually offering a more enhanced maternity leave package of between four and 13 weeks of additional leave at enhanced pay.

Paternity leave

Paternity leave is available to those who need time off as their partner is having a baby.

Recent changes to paternity leave mean that employees can take either one week or two weeks of paternity leave. The two weeks can be taken consecutively or separately. The leave cannot begin until the baby is born, and must be taken within 52 weeks of the birth.

Employees taking paternity leave are eligible for statutory paternity pay, which is currently £184.03 per week or 90% of their average weekly earnings (whichever is lower).

Almost half of organisations in the UK who featured in a parental leave survey said they would support enhancing their paternity leave policies, and some companies have already started.

Shared leave

Shared leave is a relatively new policy that allows parents in the UK to share the leave period. What this means is that parents can share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of statutory pay between them.

All of the shared leave must be taken within the first year of the baby’s life, and can be taken in blocks either individually or together.

The same parental leave survey mentioned earlier however shows that very few parents are taking up the option of shared parental leave, suggesting UK employees may prefer alternative arrangements.

Parental leave

Parental leave is unpaid leave that is available to all parents, not just those who have just had a child. An employee is entitled to up to 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave for each child they have up to their 18th birthday.

Parental leave must be taken in weeks, not days, and is per child not per job. This means that an employee cannot “reset” their parental leave if they start a new job. If they have taken 10 weeks of parental leave with their old employer, they would have eight weeks left to take with their new one.

Comparing UK parental leave with other countries

So, how do parental leave policies in the UK compare with other countries?

Maternity policies

Global employment laws offer different levels of maternity leave. But for the UK, employers offer the third-best leave allowance of anywhere in the world.

Europe overwhelmingly leads the charge for generous statutory maternity leave. The UK’s 52 weeks are only beaten by Bulgaria and Croatia, which both offer a maximum of 58 weeks. The UK’s allowance sits in joint third position with Albania, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which also give employees a maximum of 52 weeks’ leave. Ireland comes up fourth, with 42 weeks.

Somewhat shockingly, the US has the worst maternity leave allowance in the world, as employers are not federally required to give any maternity leave at all. It’s followed by Tunisia, which offers a maximum period of four weeks.

And what about pay? Well, when compared to other countries, the UK comes up pretty poorly when it comes to statutory maternity pay, especially when compared to the Nordics. Sweden, for example, offers 80% pay for 480 days, while Norway offers new mums full pay for an impressive 49 weeks.

Paternity policies

Unfortunately, when it comes to paternity leave, the UK doesn’t fare quite so well as it does for maternity leave.

The UK’s paternity leave offering of two weeks doesn’t even make the top ten globally. Europe generally falls behind here, with Sweden’s 12 weeks and Latvia’s 11 weeks by far the best that the continent has to offer.

Instead, the current global leaders can be found in South America, Asia, and largely Africa, which has four countries in the top 10. The longest statutory paternity leave in the world is in Peru, which offers a whopping maximum of 21 weeks, followed by Lao People’s Democratic Republic, with 17 weeks maximum, and Rwanda, with 16 weeks maximum.

The future of parental leave in the UK

The approach to parental leave in the UK is changing, albeit slowly.

Back in July 2019, the UK government consulted on various proposals aimed at supporting families.

Some of the updates that are expected as a result of that consultation include the Neonatal Care Act, which will entitle parents to up to 12 weeks of parental leave and pay if their baby requires neonatal care, in addition to their existing parental leave allowance.

The shared parental leave regulations that came into force back in 2014 were aimed at giving parents more flexibility around who is entitled to leave and pay, and in April 2024, paternity leave policy changed to allow fathers the choice of taking their two weeks leave together or separately.

While the UK’s maternity leave policies may stand their ground against their global counterparts, the same can’t currently be said for its paternity leave policies, and this isn’t going unnoticed.

Research shows that just 18% of the UK population think that two weeks is enough paternity leave, meaning change can’t come soon enough for many, but is it on the way?

The Labour party pledged a new family friendly policy during their election campaign that would see every worker entitled to parental leave from the moment they begin the job (currently a worker must have 26 weeks of continuous employment in a job to legally qualify).

While the party may be making steps towards changes, they haven’t announced anything to specifically improve paternity leave yet.

For employers, offering enhanced paternity leave packages therefore could well be a key way of attracting and retaining talent.

Final thoughts: UK parental leave trends

While there are various parental leave policies in the UK and new changes are coming into play all the time, global trends show that there are still some areas that need improvement.

Many employers choose to offer advanced parental leave policies, such as offering a higher rate of maternity and paternity pay, and longer paternity leave options.

Putting such policies in place can be a great way of showing your employees just how much you value them, and can go a long way towards attracting talent during the hiring process too.

Lucy Nixon - content writer

With 10 years experience in the digital marketing industry, Lucy is a content writer specialising in ecommerce, website building and all things small business. Her passion is breaking down tricky topics into digestible and engaging content for readers. She's also committed to uncovering the best platforms, tools, and strategies, researching meticulously to providing hand-on tips and advice.