By law, an employee who will be taking statutory paternity leave can take time off work to attend 2 pregnancy-related or adoption appointments.
These can include attending pregnancy appointments with a surrogate.
Pregnancy-related appointments can be called 'antenatal' appointments. They can include medical appointments, scans or other pregnancy care.
The employee can take up to 6.5 hours for each appointment. This time includes travel to and from the appointment.
There's no legal entitlement to pay for this time off. However, an employer might offer pay or more time off for these appointments. Check your organisation's policy or the employment contract.
If the employee does not want to take unpaid time off, they could ask their employer to take it as holiday or make up the hours later. Both the employer and employee need to agree on this.
Who can take time off for appointments
To be entitled to time off for pregnancy-related or adoption appointments, the employee must be one of the following:
- the partner of someone who's pregnant
- an intended parent in a surrogacy – they will be applying for a parental order
- the 'secondary adopter'
Contact the Acas helpline
If you have any questions about paternity leave, contact the Acas helpline.