ERA 2025: Paternity Leave Changes — What Employers Need to Know

The Employment Rights Act 2025 makes paternity leave more flexible. Employees can now split their entitlement into non-consecutive blocks and take leave at any point within the first year of the child's life rather than within the first eight weeks. The qualifying period is also removed — paternity leave becomes a day one right.

For employers, the administrative change is real. You can no longer rely on a predictable window when an employee will be absent. Leave may come in short blocks spaced out over 12 months. Your workforce planning needs to accommodate this, and your HR system needs to track it accurately.

Mellow's absence module logs paternity leave blocks individually and flags when entitlement is being used. Managers get visibility of upcoming leave requests. The change is an opportunity, not just a compliance burden: flexible paternity leave is one of the factors that shapes whether working parents stay with an employer. Being easy to work with on this is good retention as much as good compliance.