Explanatory note

These Regulations amend the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Application of Sections 75A, 75B, 75G, 75H, 80A and 80B to Parental Order Cases) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/3095) (“the Principal Regulations”) to reflect the amendments made to section 80B of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (c. 18) (“the 1996 Act”) by section 1 of the Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024 (c. 17) (“the 2024 Act”) and sections 16(2) and 17(2) of the Employment Rights Act 2025 (c. 36) (“the 2025 Act”).

Section 80B of the 1996 Act places a duty on the Secretary of State to make regulations entitling an employee who satisfies specified conditions to be absent from work on paternity leave for the purpose of caring for a child placed for adoption under the law of any part of the United Kingdom or supporting that child’s adopter. The Principal Regulations provide, among other things, that section 80B of the 1996 Act has effect, with modifications, in relation to cases which involve an employee who has applied, or intends to apply, with another person for a parental order under section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (c. 22) and a child who is, or will be, the subject of the order (“parental order cases”).

Subsection (6C) of section 80B of the 1996 Act, inserted by the 2024 Act and subsequently amended by the 2025 Act, places a duty on the Secretary of State to make regulations entitling an employee who satisfies specified conditions to be absent from work on paternity leave where the person with whom a child is placed or expected to be placed for adoption dies. That subsection also provides that such regulations may entitle an employee to be absent from work on paternity leave where the child also dies or is, having been placed for adoption, returned. These Regulations make corresponding amendments to the Principal Regulations in relation to parental order cases, and define “primary parental order parent” for those purposes.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary sector or community bodies is foreseen.