Additional Paternity Leave Regulations come into statute in April 2010, however the new rights will only be applicable to the parents of babies born on or after 3rd April 2011.

Preparations to implement the new regulations would need to be made during 2010, hence the reason for the effective date of statute being this year.

The regulations allow for the employee taking the paternity leave to take a maximum of 26 weeks additional paternity leave, provided that the mother has returned to her work without exhausting her full maternity leave allowance.

Additionally some of the leave may be paid to the person taking paternity leave if the mother had been entitled to statutory maternity pay and not exhausted it.

Simply, this means that in effect the regulations allow for the mother  to transfer her untaken maternity entitlement to the child's father or the person who has parental responsibility for the child.