Regulation 23 Maternity, parental, adoption etc. leave and time off for carersF1

An office holder is entitled to maternity, paternity, parental, adoption F2, shared parental or parental bereavement leave for the same periods and subject to the same conditions as for the time being apply in the case of an employee under the Employment Rights Act 1996 or regulations made under it.

Before exercising an entitlement under paragraph (1), an office holder must, in consultation with a responsible person or authority, use all reasonable endeavours to make arrangements for the duties of the office to be performed by one or more other persons during the period of leave.

An office holder may request the appropriate authority to give him or her time off work or to make adjustments to the duties of the office to allow him or her to care for a dependant; and for this purpose, “the appropriate authority” is—

A request under paragraph (3) must be in writing; and the Archbishops' Council may impose other conditions as to the manner in which the request is to be made, including as to the supply of information with the request.

The appropriate authority must consider a request under paragraph (3); and when doing so in the case of an office holder who does not hold office in a cathedral, it must consult the parochial church council of each parish belonging to the benefice concerned.

Where the appropriate authority decides to grant a request under paragraph (3), it may—

In this regulation—

• “dependant”, in relation to an office-holder, means any person who would, if the office-holder were an employee for the purposes of the Employment Rights Act 1996, be a dependant within the meaning of section 57A of that Act,

• F3“parental bereavement leave” means leave under section 80EA of that Act, and

• “shared parental leave” means leave under section 75E or 75G of that Act.