# The Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave Regulations 2026, Regulation 3: Interpretation


(1) In these Regulations—
“the 1996 Act” means the Employment Rights Act 1996;
“adopter”—
(a) in relation to a child placed for adoption under the law of any part of the United Kingdom, means the person with whom the child has been or is expected to be placed for adoption, or, in a case where the child has been or is expected to be placed for adoption with two people jointly, whichever of those two people has elected to be the child’s adopter for the purposes of regulations made under section 80B of the 1996 Act (see paragraph (2)(a));
(b) in relation to a child who is the subject of an adoption from overseas, means a person by whom the child has been or is to be adopted or, in a case where the child has been or is to be adopted by two people jointly, whichever of them has elected to be the child’s adopter for the purposes of regulations made under section 80B of the 1996 Act (see paragraph (2)(b));
“adoption agency” has the meaning given, in relation to England and Wales, by section 2 (1) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 and, in relation to Scotland, by section 119 (1) of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007;
“adoption from overseas” means the adoption of a child who enters Great Britain from outside the United Kingdom in connection with or for the purposes of adoption which does not involve the placement of the child for adoption under the law of any part of the United Kingdom;
“bereaved partner’s paternity leave” means leave under regulation 4(1);
“bereavement date” means the date on which the child’s primary carer dies;
“birth case” means a case where the mother of a child dies;
“child” means a person who—
(a) is under the age of 18,
(b) in a domestic adoption case, was under the age of 18 when placed for adoption with the adopter, or
(c) in an overseas adoption case, was under the age of 18 when that person entered Great Britain;
“domestic adoption case” means a case where the adopter of a child placed or expected to be placed for adoption under the law of any part of the United Kingdom dies;
“intended return date” means the date on which the employee intends to return to work following the period of bereaved partner’s paternity leave;
“isolated period of leave” means a period of bereaved partner’s paternity leave that is neither immediately preceded nor immediately succeeded by another period of statutory leave;
“leave start date” means the date on which the employee chooses the period of bereaved partner’s paternity leave to begin;
“official notification” means written notification, issued by or on behalf of the relevant domestic authority (see paragraph (5)), that it is prepared to issue a certificate to the overseas authority concerned with the adoption of the child, or has issued a certificate and sent it to that authority, confirming, in either case, that the adopter is eligible to adopt and has been assessed and approved as being a suitable adoptive parent;
“overseas adoption case” means a case where the adopter of a child who is the subject of an adoption from overseas dies;
“parental order case” means a case where the primary parental order parent of a child dies;
“partner”, in relation to a child’s primary carer, means a person (whether of a different sex or the same sex) who lives with the child’s primary carer in an enduring family relationship but is not a relative of the child’s primary carer (see paragraph (5)).
“paternity leave eligibility period” has the meaning given in regulation 5(5) and (6);
“placed for adoption” means—
(a) placed for adoption under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 or the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007, or
(b) placed—
(i) under section 22C of the Children Act 1989 by a local authority in England, or
(ii) under section 81 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 by a local authority in Wales,
with a local authority foster parent who has been approved as a prospective adopter (see paragraph (5)),
and related expressions are to be construed accordingly;
“primary carer”, in relation to a child, means—
(a) in a birth case, the child’s mother;
(b) in a domestic adoption case or overseas adoption case, the child’s adopter;
(c) in a parental order case, the child’s primary parental order parent;
“primary parental order parent”, in relation to a child, means the person who elects to be the child’s primary carer (see paragraph (3))—
(a) on whose application the court has made an order under section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 in respect of the child, or
(b) who applies, or intends to apply, during the period of 6 months beginning with the day of the child’s birth, with another person for such an order in respect of the child, and expects the court to make that order;
“statutory leave” means leave provided for in Part 8 of the 1996 Act.
(2) For the purposes of the definition of “adopter” in paragraph (1), in a case where a child is adopted by two people jointly, one of those persons (“A”) elects to be the child’s adopter if A and the other person (“B”) agree that A, and not B, will be the child’s adopter—
(a) in relation to an adoption under the law of any part of the United Kingdom, at the time when A and B are matched with the child for adoption (see paragraph (4)), or
(b) in relation to an adoption from overseas, at the time when the official notification is received by A and B.
(3) For the purposes of the definition of “primary parental order parent” in paragraph (1), a person (“A”) elects to be a child’s primary carer if A and the person (“B”) with whom A has applied, or intends to apply, for an order under section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 in respect of the child agree that A, and not B, will be the child’s primary carer.
(4) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(a)—
(a) a person is matched with a child for adoption, and a child is matched for adoption with a person, when an adoption agency decides that the person would be a suitable adoptive parent for the child either individually or jointly with another person;
(b) in a case where sub-paragraph (a) applies, a person is notified of having been matched with a child on the date on which the person receives notification of the agency's decision, under regulation 33 (3) (a) of the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005, regulation 34(3) of the Adoption Agencies (Wales) Regulations 2005, or regulation 8 (5) of the Adoption Agencies (Scotland) Regulations 2009;
(c) a person is also matched with a child for adoption, and a child is matched for adoption with a person, when a decision has been made in accordance with regulation 22A of the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 and an adoption agency has identified that person as the person with whom the child is to be placed for adoption in accordance with regulation 12B of the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005;
(d) in a case where sub-paragraph (c) applies, a person is notified of having been matched with a child on the date on which that person receives notification in accordance with regulation 12B (2) (a) of the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005 of the decision to place for adoption the child with that person.
(5) In this regulation—
“parental order” means an order made by the court under section 54 or 54A of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 providing for a child to be treated in law as the child of the applicants or applicant (as the case may be);
“prospective adopter” means a person who has been approved as suitable to adopt a child and has been notified of that decision in accordance with regulation 30B (4) of the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005 or regulation 30B(4) of the Adoption Agencies (Wales) Regulations 2005;
“relative of the child’s primary carer” means the child, parent, grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew of the child’s primary carer where the relationship is—
(a) of the full blood or half blood or, in the case of an adopted person or a person who is the subject of a parental order, that would exist but for the adoption or parental order, or
(b) with the adoptive, or former adoptive, parents of the child’s primary carer, or with the child’s primary carer’s parents by virtue of a parental order (but is not any other adoptive relationship, or relationship by virtue of a parental order, that is not a relationship of the full blood or half blood);
“relevant domestic authority” means—
(a) in the case of an adopter to whom the Adoptions with a Foreign Element Regulations 2005 apply and who is habitually resident in Wales, the Welsh Ministers;
(b) in the case of an adopter to whom the Adoptions with a Foreign Element (Scotland) Regulations 2009 apply and who is habitually resident in Scotland, the Scottish Ministers;
(c) in any other case, the Secretary of State.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2026/9780348278446/regulation/3 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/draft-bereaved-partners-paternity-leave-regulations-2026/regulation-3
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.