Guide to time off for surrogate parents

The basic statutory rights that employers must provide to intended parents who are having a child through a surrogacy arrangement are explained in a useful new TUC booklet.

The booklet — Time off and pay for parents having a child through surrogacy — says that if an employee and their partner are having a child through this arrangement the employee may be eligible for new rights to time off work to attend ante-natal appointments with the surrogate mother and the employee may be able to take paid adoption leave, paternity leave or shared parental leave after the child is born.

An employer may offer better rights than the legal minimum and so an employee needs to check their contract of employment or staff handbook to find out their entitlement with their current employer.

If the employer recognises a trade union an employee are more likely to have better than the legal minimum rights as unions have pushed for things like higher contractual pay for adoption leave.

www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/KYR_Surrogacy.pdf