{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/paternity-and-adoption-leave-regulations-2002/regulation-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/paternity-and-adoption-leave-regulations-2002/regulation-2.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2002/2788",
  "legislation_title": "The Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2002",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/paternity-and-adoption-leave-regulations-2002",
  "path": "regulation/2",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "Interpretation",
  "text": "(1) In these Regulations—\n“the 1996 Act” means the Employment Rights Act 1996;\n“additional adoption leave” means leave under section 75B of the 1996 Act;\n“additional maternity leave” means leave under section 73 of the 1996 Act;\n“adopter”, in relation to a child, means a person who has been matched with the child for adoption, or, in a case where two people have been matched jointly, whichever of them has elected to be the child’s adopter for the purposes of these Regulations;\n“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;\n“adoption leave” means ordinary or additional adoption leave;\n“child” means a person who is, or when placed with an adopter for adoption was, under the age of 18;\n“contract of employment” means a contract of service or apprenticeship, whether express or implied, and (if it is express) whether oral or in writing;\n“employee” means an individual who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, worked under) a contract of employment;\n“employer” means the person by whom an employee is (or, where the employment has ceased, was) employed;\n“expected week”, in relation to the birth of a child, means the week, beginning with midnight between Saturday and Sunday, in which it is expected that the child will be born;\n“ordinary adoption leave” means leave under section 75A of the 1996 Act;\n“parental leave” means leave under regulation 13(1) of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999;\n“partner”, in relation to a child’s mother or adopter, means a person (whether of a different sex or the same sex) who lives with the mother or adopter and the child in an enduring family relationship but is not a relative of the mother or adopter of a kind specified in paragraph (2);\n“paternity leave” means leave under regulation 4 or regulation 8 of these Regulations;\n“placed for adoption” means—\n(a)placed for adoption under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 or the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007; or\n(b)placed in accordance with section 22C of the Children Act 1989 with a local authority foster parent who is also a prospective adopter;\n“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;\nreturned after being placed for adoption means—\n(a)returned under sections 31 to 35 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002;\n(b)in Scotland, returned to the adoption agency, adoption society or nominated person in accordance with section 25(6) of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007; or\n(c)where the child is placed in accordance with section 22C of the Children Act 1989, returned to the adoption agency following a termination of the placement.\n...\n“statutory adoption leave” means ordinary adoption leave and additional adoption leave;\n“statutory adoption leave period” means the period during which the adopter is on statutory adoption leave;\n“statutory leave” means leave provided for in Part 8 of the 1996 Act.\n(2) The relatives of a child’s mother or adopter referred to in the definition of “partner” in paragraph (1) are the mother’s or adopter’s parent, grandparent, sister, brother, aunt or uncle.\n(3) References to relationships in paragraph (2)—\n(a) are to relationships of the full blood or half blood or, in the case of an adopted person, such of those relationships as would exist but for the adoption, and\n(b) include the relationship of a child with his adoptive, or former adoptive, parents,\nbut do not include any other adoptive relationships.\n(4) For the purposes of these Regulations—\n(a) a person is matched with a child for adoption when an adoption agency decides that that person would be a suitable adoptive parent for the child either individually or jointly with another person;\n(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 28(3) of the Adoption Agencies (Wales) Regulations 2005, or regulation 8(5) of the Adoption Agencies (Scotland) Regulations 2009;\n(c) a person is also matched with a child for adoption 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 with whom the child is to be placed in accordance with regulation 12B of the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005;\n(d) in a case where 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.\n(4A) For the purposes of these Regulations, a person elects to be a child’s adopter, in a case where the child is matched with him and another person jointly, if he and that person agree, at the time at which they are matched that he and not the other person will be the adopter.\n(5) A reference in any provision of these Regulations to a period of continuous employment is to a period computed in accordance with Chapter 1 of Part 14 of the 1996 Act, as if that provision were a provision of that Act.\n(6) For the purposes of these Regulations, any two employers shall be treated as associated if—\n(a) one is a company of which the other (directly or indirectly) has control; or\n(b) both are companies of which a third person (directly or indirectly) has control;\nand “associated employer” shall be construed accordingly.",
  "extent": "E+W+S",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) substituted (1.12.2014) by The Paternity and Adoption Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/2112), regs. 1(3), 3(a)(i)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) substituted (15.7.2011) by The Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 (Consequential Modifications) Order 2011 (S.I. 2011/1740), art. 1(2), Sch. 1 para. 30(2)(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (5.4.2015) by The Paternity and Adoption Leave (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/3206), regs. 1, 4(2) (with reg. 2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (8.3.2024 with effect from 6.4.2024 in accordance with reg. 5 of the amending S.I.) by The Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 (S.I. 2024/329), regs. 2, 8 (with reg. 6)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) omitted (18.2.2026 for specified purposes, 6.4.2026 in so far as not already in force) by virtue of The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Parental and Paternity Leave) (Removal of Qualifying Periods etc.) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/15), regs. 1(2)(3), 10(2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F6",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (1.10.2006 with effect from 1.4.2007 in accordance with reg. 2 of the amending S.I.) by The Maternity and Parental Leave etc. and the Paternity and Adoption Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/2014), regs. 1, 13"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F7",
      "text": "Reg. 2(4)(4A) substituted for reg. 2(4) (5.4.2015) by The Paternity and Adoption Leave (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/3206), regs. 1, 4(3) (with reg. 2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "Reg. 2 in force at 8.12.2002, see reg. 1"
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "SI 1999/3312, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2788/regulation/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T06:40:25.467513+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}