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Eligible employees can take Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave if the mother, main adopter or main intended parent of their child dies.

The ‘main adopter’ or ‘main intended parent’ would have been the person in an adoptive couple or surrogacy arrangement taking Adoption Leave.

It does not matter how long an employee has worked for you, how many hours they work or how much they are paid.

Eligibility criteria

Employees must be one of the following:

• child’s father
• spouse or partner of the mother or adoptive parent
• spouse or partner of the intended parent (if they’ve had their child with the help of a surrogate parent)

Employees qualify if all of these apply:

• the mother, main adopter or main intended parent died on or after 6 April 2026
• the child is less than a year old - or if ³Ù³ó±ð²â’r±ð adopted, was placed with the employee (or first arrived in England, Scotland or Wales) less than a year ago
• they have the main caring responsibility for the child
• ³Ù³ó±ð²â’r±ð taking the leave to care for the child
• ³Ù³ó±ð²â’r±ð classed as an employee in England, Scotland or Wales

If the employee had the child with the help of a surrogate parent

The employee must have applied or intend to apply for a parental order within 6 months of the child’s birth.