Employment Rights Act 1996

[F1 57ZE Right to time off to accompany to ante-natal appointment E+W+S

(1) An employee who has a qualifying relationship with a pregnant woman or her expected child is entitled to be permitted by his or her employer to take time off during the employee's working hours in order that he or she may accompany the woman when she attends by appointment at any place for the purpose of receiving ante-natal care.

(2) In relation to any particular pregnancy, an employee is not entitled to take time off for the purpose specified in subsection (1) on more than two occasions.

(3) On each of those occasions, the maximum time off during working hours to which the employee is entitled is six and a half hours.

(4) An employee is not entitled to take time off for the purpose specified in subsection (1) unless the appointment is made on the advice of a registered medical practitioner, registered midwife or registered nurse.

(5) Where the employer requests the employee to give the employer a declaration signed by the employee, the employee is not entitled to take time off for the purpose specified in subsection (1) unless the employee gives that declaration (which may be given in electronic form).

(6) The employee must state in the declaration—

(a) that the employee has a qualifying relationship with a pregnant woman or her expected child,

(b) that the employee's purpose in taking time off is the purpose specified in subsection (1),

(c) that the appointment in question is made on the advice of a registered medical practitioner, registered midwife or registered nurse, and

(d) the date and time of the appointment.

(7) A person has a qualifying relationship with a pregnant woman or her expected child if—

(a) the person is the husband or civil partner of the pregnant woman,

(b) the person, being of a different sex or the same sex, lives with the woman in an enduring family relationship but is not a relative of the woman,

(c) the person is the father of the expected child,

(d) the person is a parent of the expected child by virtue of section 42 or 43 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, or

(e) the person is a potential applicant for a parental order under section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 in respect of the expected child.

(8) For the purposes of subsection (7) a relative of a person is the person's parent, grandparent, sister, brother, aunt or uncle.

(9) The references to relationships in subsection (8)—

(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

(b) include the relationship of a child with the child's adoptive, or former adoptive, parents,

but do not include any other adoptive relationships.

(10) For the purposes of subsection (7)(e) a person (“A”) is a potential applicant for a parental order under section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 in respect of an expected child only if—

(a) A intends to apply, jointly with another person (“B”), for such an order in respect of the expected child within the time allowed by section 54(3),

(b) the expected child is being carried by the pregnant woman as a result of such procedure as is described in section 54(1)(a),

(c) the requirement in section 54(1)(b) is satisfied by reference to A or B,

(d) A and B would satisfy section 54(2) if they made an application under section 54 at the time that A seeks to exercise the right under this section, and

(e) A expects that A and B will satisfy the conditions in section 54(2), (4), (5) and (8) as regards the intended application.

(11) The references in this section to a registered nurse are references to a registered nurse—

(a) who is also registered in the Specialist Community Public Health Nurses Part of the register maintained under article 5 of the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001 ( S.I. 2002/253), and

(b) whose entry in that Part of the register is annotated to show that the nurse holds a qualification in health visiting.

(12) For the purposes of this section the working hours of an employee are to be taken to be any time when, in accordance with the employee's contract of employment, the employee is required to be at work.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Ss. 57ZE-57ZI and cross-headings inserted (1.10.2014) by Children and Families Act 2014 (c. 6), ss. 127(1), 139(6); S.I. 2014/1640, art. 4(a)