Partner Article

Even Princes take paternity leave!

Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the birth of their son, the third in line to the throne!

Irrespective of the couple’s significant titles and their son’s royal status, the young couple are still first time parents and they will undoubtedly be looking forward to their special time together as a ‘family’ and the opportunity to bond at this early stage of their son’s life, writes Gemma Murphy, solicitor at Lester Aldridge.

So will William be taking leave to be with Kate and their son?

Yes indeed, William is employed by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and therefore, as an employee with ‘sufficient service’ he is entitled to take ‘ordinary paternity leave’ to help care for their son and to support Kate at this early stage of motherhood. Ordinary paternity leave entitles him to take either one week or two consecutive weeks leave within 56 days of their son’s birth.

However, despite all of the global publicity announcing that William and Kate were having a baby, William still had a duty as an employee to formally notify the RAF in writing of his intention to take paternity leave, the expected week of child birth, the intended length of paternity leave and the proposed timing for taking paternity leave (i.e. straight after the birth). Even Princes have to follow policies and procedures when they’re employed!

Taking additional leave…

As the second in line to the throne, the rules may be slightly different for William (we are yet to see - he tries so hard to lead an ‘normal’ life) but potentially he may decide to take more ‘time out’ with his family at the beginning of his son’s life by using accrued holiday leave in addition to his paternity leave.

Alternatively, the Royal couple may take advantage of the new paternity regulations which give eligible fathers the right to take between 2 to 26 weeks ‘additional paternity leave’ within the first year of their son’s life (in multiples of complete weeks and consecutively). William would be entitled to take ‘additional paternity leave’ between the 20th and 52nd week after their son’s birth providing that Kate returns to work with some of her statutory maternity leave entitlement remaining. However, the Royal couple would not be able to take additional paternity leave and maternity leave at the same time.

So will William be paid if he takes paternity leave?

If William takes paternity leave, he will be entitled to be paid statutory paternity pay at a rate of £136.78 (or at the lower earning rate) or possibly at the RAF’s enhanced contractual rate (if applicable).

Planning for paternity leave

It’s important that once a business receives notification from an employee of intended paternity leave that they begin to consider options for covering the employee’s work during the paternity leave, in William’s case as operational captain of the RAF Search and Rescue Force. It is undoubtedly far easier for an employer to organise cover an employee taking ‘ordinary paternity leave’ rather than ‘additional paternity leave’ (a longer period), but essentially forward planning will help reduce the impact of any employee absence!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lester Aldridge LLP .