# The Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave Regulations 2026, Regulation 12: Right to return: entitlement


(1) An employee who returns to work following a period of bereaved partner’s paternity leave of 26 weeks or less that was—
(a) an isolated period of leave, or
(b) the last of two or more consecutive periods of statutory leave that did not include any period of—
(i) parental leave of more than four weeks, or
(ii) statutory leave which, when added to any other periods of statutory leave, excluding parental leave, taken in relation to the same child as the period of bereaved partner’s paternity leave from which the employee is returning, means that the total amount of statutory leave taken in relation to that child is more than 26 weeks,
is entitled to return to the job in which the employee was employed before the absence.
(2) An employee who returns to work following a period of bereaved partner’s paternity leave not falling within the description in paragraph (1)(a) or (b) is entitled to return to the job in which the employee was employed before the absence, or, if it is not reasonably practicable for the employer to permit the employee to return to that job, to another job which is both suitable and appropriate for the employee to do in the circumstances.
(3) In this regulation—
(a) “the job in which the employee was employed before the absence” means the job in which the employee was employed—
(i) where the return is from an isolated period of leave, immediately before that period;
(ii) where the return is from consecutive periods of statutory leave, immediately before the first such period;
(b) “parental leave” means leave provided for in section 76 of the 1996 Act.
(4) This regulation does not apply where regulation 14 (redundancy) applies.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2026/9780348278446/regulation/12 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/draft-bereaved-partners-paternity-leave-regulations-2026/regulation-12
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.