Additional Paternity Leave and Pay - Government responds to consultation feedback

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21 February 2008

In May 2007, the Government published a consultation document on the proposed administrative procedures for additional paternity leave and pay (APL&P), due to be introduced before the end of the current Parliament, likely from April 2010. Responding to the comments received from interested parties, the Government published its response document at the end of January 2008. The following decisions are announced in the document:

• Responding to continued concerns over the potential for fraud, the earlier approach has been restated, that HMRC will carry out compliance checks and may impose financial penalties where it can be shown that claimants either fraudulently or negligently make a claim for APL&P.
  
  
• When an employee applies for a period of APL&P, the employer will be required to confirm an entitlement within a 28 day statutory period.
  
  
• The SC3 self-certificate will be amended to encompass both additional paternity leave and pay, although this may require an entirely new form. Completion of a form containing all the required information will be compulsory and employers will be allowed to produce their own substitute versions of the form, as long as they contain, as a minimum, the information on the standard HMRC form.
  
  
• Completion of an eligibility checklist by employers will not be made mandatory. It will be strongly recommended that employers use the checklist to demonstrate that they have acted with due care. If employers choose not to use the checklist then they will still need, by some other means, to satisfy themselves (and potentially also HMRC) that they have carried out the necessary checks for HMRC compliance purposes.
  
  
• If the father* wishes to change the start and/or finish date for APL&P, six week's notice will be required. Employers will be free to agree to a shorter notice period if they wish.
  
  
• If the father* seeks to change the start of APL&P without giving the full six week's notice and the change cannot reasonably be accommodated by his employer, the employer will have the right to insist that leave dates, whether paid or unpaid, are taken at the previously agreed times.

* References to "father" include partners and civil partners of mothers, and to members of adopting couples where there is an entitlement to Statutory Adoption Leave and Pay.

A further consultation is planned on the legal and technical aspects of the APL&P draft regulations.

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Further information:
Government Response to Consultation

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