Do you allow time off to accompany a pregnant woman to ante-natal appointments?

23 September 2014 Opinion Cat Macdonald

So did you know that from 1 October 2014, if your employee is the spouse or civil partner of a pregnant woman, or the partner of a pregnant woman with whom they live in an ‘enduring family relationship’ or even ‘just’ the father of the expected baby (whether they live with the mother or not) they are entitled to take time off work to accompany the pregnant woman to an ante-natal appointment?
Now there are a few caveats to that –

• The appointment must be made on the advice of a registered medical practitioner, registered midwife or registered nurse
• It is limited to a maximum of two appointments
• The maximum time off during working hours for each appointment should be no longer than 6.5 hours
• And it’s unpaid time off

By hey that’s pretty forward thinking.

Yes the employee has to sign a declaration stating the above but that’s surely a small price to pay to share this moment. Interestingly the right also applies to the intended parent of a pregnant surrogate mother (assuming the employee is the potential applicant for a parental order).

Who said we were not a family friendly nation? It’s a small but positive step. Now don’t forget to update your policies to reflect this change.

For more help and advice about general time off, or family policies please feel free contact us at www.threedomsolutions.co.uk or follow us on twitter @3domSolutions

Cat Macdonald FCIPD

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Cat Macdonald

Cat Macdonald has worked across a broad range of sectors including manufacturing, engineering and media at senior management level in Human Resources. Now with Threedom Solutions she works with large plcs & smaller local concerns specialising in HR service provision, Team Coaching and Training solutions. As a working parent she is passionate about supporting parents in the workplace and also developing employee's Resilience in the workplace.
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http://www.threedomsolutions.co.uk

Cat Macdonald has worked across a broad range of sectors including manufacturing, engineering and media at senior management level in Human Resources. Now with Threedom Solutions she works with large plcs & smaller local concerns specialising in HR service provision, Team Coaching and Training solutions. As a working parent she is passionate about supporting parents in the workplace and also developing employee's Resilience in the workplace.