If you intend to take Ordinary Paternity Leave you have to give your employer notice that specifies:
You must give your employer this notice in, or before, the 15th week before the week the child is due. In cases where this is not possible, or reasonably practicable – for example, if the child is born prematurely or the pregnancy is discovered very late – then notice must be given as soon as is reasonably practicable.
You should self-certificate, using Form SC3 ('Becoming a Birth Parent'), confirming you are entitled to ordinary paternity leave and pay, and you should give the form to your employer. You should keep a copy of it so both you and your employer are clear of the dates and other information provided.
You can choose when your leave period will begin, but it must take place within 56 days (eight weeks) of the child’s birth and it must start on one of these dates:
As soon as is reasonably practicable after the child has been born, you must give your employer notice of the date of birth.
You are entitled to one or two consecutive weeks’ leave in one block. There is no statutory right to single days of leave or to two separate weeks, but check whether something better has been negotiated where you work, especially if your employer recognises a union.
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