Surrogacy leave for intended parents: UK rights

You can be bringing your baby home before the law recognises you as their parent. That does not mean you have to wait for a court order to take leave. Intended parents can use adoption and paternity rights, but the right to time off and the right to pay have different tests. Your manager’s unfamiliarity with surrogacy does not cancel your entitlement.

Who counts as the legal parent at birth

The surrogate is the legal mother at birth, regardless of whose egg was used. If she is married or in a civil partnership, her spouse or civil partner is usually the second legal parent unless they did not consent. A genetic link alone does not settle everyone’s legal parenthood.

A parental order changes legal parenthood to recognise the intended family. Your leave rights depend on intending to apply and expecting the order to be granted, rather than waiting for the court to make it.

You can apply as a couple or alone. Joint applicants must be married, civil partners or living as partners in an enduring family relationship. Under section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, at least one joint applicant must be domiciled in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man. Domicile is a legal connection to your permanent home, not simply your current address. A sole applicant must meet their own domicile condition.

The England and Wales application uses form C51 and costs £270. In Scotland, contact the sheriff court or Court of Session; in Northern Ireland, the Courts and Tribunals Service. If you have missed the six-month application period, get specialist family-law advice immediately. Do not assume there is no route left.

Surrogacy agreements are unenforceable in UK law. The surrogate’s consent to a parental order is ineffective if given less than six weeks after birth. Payments beyond reasonable expenses need the court’s authorisation for a parental order. Get advice before agreeing payments, especially for an overseas arrangement.

Which leave you get as an intended parent

There is no separate statutory surrogacy leave. Maternity leave belongs to the person who gives birth. Eligible intended parents use adoption and paternity rights; the paternity-leave taker need not be a man.

In a couple, choose your adoption and paternity roles according to eligibility and workplace pay, not who supplied the egg or sperm. You cannot take both for the same child. A single intended parent uses the adoption route.

Adoption leave: the main leave

Statutory adoption leave is up to 52 weeks, split into 26 weeks’ ordinary and 26 weeks’ additional leave. There is no minimum service requirement. You must be an employee, meet the parental-order conditions and give the required notice and any requested proof.

Only one member of a couple can take it. Acas says you cannot swap adoption and paternity entitlements once you have told your employers. Check both workplace pay policies before deciding.

For UK and overseas surrogacy, adoption leave starts at birth or the following day, not weeks before the due date. If the baby arrives early, tell your employer as soon as you can. Plan annual leave separately if you need time off beforehand, including travel abroad.

Paternity leave: the second parent

Statutory Paternity Leave is one or two weeks. You can take them together or as two separate one-week blocks. Every block must end within 52 weeks of the birth in Great Britain.

Since 6 April 2026, paternity leave has been a day-one right in Great Britain and can be taken after shared parental leave. You must meet the parental-order conditions and share responsibility with the other intended parent. Paternity pay still needs qualifying service.

How much you are paid

The £194.32 flat rate applies from 5 April 2026. The lower earnings limit is £129 a week for the 2026/27 tax year. Earnings mean the statutory average, not necessarily the amount on your latest payslip. If your shifts vary, ask payroll for its calculation. A year of leave is not a year of statutory pay.

Telling your employer

1. Confirm your leave choice. Ask for the family-leave policy and any enhanced pay terms. Tell payroll you are following the parental-order surrogacy route, rather than being matched with a child by an adoption agency.
2. Give the main notice by the qualifying week. For adoption leave, tell your employer the expected week of birth and when your leave will start, no later than the 15th week before the baby is due. For paternity leave, give the expected birth date and the written responsibility and relationship declarations by the end of that qualifying week. Keep your email and the reply.
3. Book each paternity period. Give at least 28 days’ notice of its start and length, and confirm in writing that it is to care for the child or your partner. This applies to a two-week block as well as separate weeks. Where possible, also give 28 days’ notice of when adoption pay should start.
4. Give proof if requested. Your employer can ask for a statutory declaration about applying for a parental order and expecting it to be granted. Acas describes this as a statement provided by a solicitor. You do not need a matching certificate from an adoption agency. Ask the employer to identify the evidence required for your surrogacy route.
5. Confirm the birth. Tell your employer the actual birth date as soon as possible. If an early birth or another good reason prevents timely notice, send the information as soon as you can and explain why.

For adoption leave, your employer must reply in writing within 28 days, confirming when the leave will end. If a manager says “we do not have a surrogacy policy”, send the Acas guide and ask them to process your statutory entitlement. A missing policy is not a legal exemption.

Sharing leave with your partner

Shared parental leave does not add another year off. It lets eligible parents share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay left after adoption leave and pay end early. Give at least eight weeks’ notice to end adoption leave or pay early and to book shared parental leave. Use the shared parental leave guide to plan the notices and blocks.

If both of you want shared parental leave, each must be an employee with 26 weeks’ continuous service by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of birth, and remain with that employer until the shared leave starts. Each needs average earnings of at least £129 a week to claim shared parental pay. Unlike adoption and paternity leave, shared parental leave is not a day-one right.

If only one of you takes shared leave, the other parent can meet a different test, having worked in at least 26 of the 66 weeks before the expected week of birth and earned at least £390 in total across 13 of those weeks. The GOV.UK eligibility guide separates these situations. Do not rule out sharing just because your partner is self-employed.

Check enhanced pay separately. An employer may top up adoption pay but not shared parental pay. Ending adoption leave early can therefore change your household budget even when the total leave remaining looks the same.

Time off before the birth

An eligible intended parent who is an employee can take unpaid time off to accompany the surrogate to two antenatal appointments, capped at 6.5 hours each. There is no service requirement. You must meet the potential parental-order applicant conditions and the appointment must be on medical advice. The surrogate decides whether you accompany her.

Your employer can ask for a signed declaration covering eligibility, the purpose of the visit and the appointment’s date and time. It cannot demand proof of the appointment itself. The right comes from section 57ZE of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

The surrogate’s own rights are different. A pregnant employee has paid time off for antenatal care. Your statutory accompaniment right is unpaid, although an employer can offer paid time. If you work nights in a care home, email the appointment time and the time off you need before the rota is issued. Keep the response.

If your job is insecure, agency or self-employed

A zero-hours contract does not by itself decide your rights. You can still be an employee. Check your employment status rather than accepting “casual staff do not get leave” from a supervisor.

Agency staff should ask who runs their PAYE and which employment periods count. Pay eligibility does not turn a non-employee into someone with a statutory leave right. If you are self-employed, check benefits advice, including Universal Credit, rather than assuming there is a maternity-style allowance for intended parents.

Other leave after the birth

Ordinary unpaid parental leave became a day-one employee right in Great Britain on 6 April 2026. It is separate from shared parental leave. Eligible employees have 18 weeks per child, normally capped at four weeks per year, subject to its notice and booking rules and parental-responsibility requirements.

Neonatal care leave, introduced in Great Britain on 6 April 2025, can add up to 12 weeks where your baby needs at least seven consecutive days of qualifying neonatal care. Leave is a day-one employee right; pay has separate service and earnings tests. Ask about this route alongside your planned family leave. Not every hospital stay qualifies.

What about the surrogate’s rights

A surrogate who is an employee has up to 52 weeks’ maternity leave, regardless of the plan to hand the baby to the intended parents. If she qualifies for statutory maternity pay, it lasts up to 39 weeks. The first six weeks pay 90% of average weekly earnings; the next 33 pay £194.32 or 90% of earnings, whichever is lower, at 2026/27 rates.

A self-employed surrogate may qualify for Maternity Allowance instead, subject to its own conditions. That allowance is for the person who was pregnant, not an intended parent. Handing the baby over does not transfer her maternity leave to you.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

England, Wales and Scotland have the same adoption and paternity employment rules described above. The parental-order court process differs in Scotland. This guide states the law as at 1 October 2026.

Northern Ireland has separate employment law. Do not apply the Great Britain reforms here automatically. Under the Northern Ireland paternity rules, leave still requires 26 weeks’ service and is one week or two consecutive weeks, normally finishing within 56 days of birth. It cannot be split into the Great Britain pattern of two separate weeks within a year.

Returning to work

Your holiday entitlement continues to build up during adoption leave. Agree how to use it before and after the absence. Your employer normally assumes you will take all 52 weeks unless you give a different return date. To return early, give eight weeks’ notice unless your employer agrees to less.

After up to 26 weeks’ adoption leave, you have the right to return to the same job. After longer leave, that remains the rule unless it is not reasonably practicable. Any alternative must be suitable and appropriate, with terms no less favourable. The Acas return-to-work guide explains the distinction. Do not accept lower pay as the price of coming back.

If your employer refuses or penalises you

Treating you worse because you take or seek qualifying family leave can be unlawful detriment. Dismissal for taking adoption, paternity, shared parental or ordinary parental leave can be automatically unfair. You do not have to wait for the scheduled 2027 reduction in the ordinary unfair-dismissal qualifying period to challenge dismissal for a protected family-leave reason.

1. Save the evidence. Keep your notice email, proof of sending, payslips, rotas and messages about leave. If a warehouse supervisor removes shifts after your request, save the rotas before and after and ask for the reason in writing.
2. Ask for a written decision. Identify the leave you requested and ask which eligibility condition the employer says you fail. Raise a formal grievance if the refusal is not resolved. Do not resign without advice.
3. Bring in support. Speak to your union rep. Usdaw represents retail and distribution workers; UNISON, GMB and Unite also organise across essential services. Ask about representation and legal help rather than signing away a claim unaided. Without a rep, contact Acas, Citizens Advice or a law centre.
4. Protect the claim deadline. A grievance does not stop the tribunal clock. Notify Acas for early conciliation within the applicable time limit. In Northern Ireland, contact the Labour Relations Agency about its separate process.

In Great Britain, most tribunal claims about problems on or after 1 October 2026 have a limit of six months less one day. For problems before that date, the previous three months less one day may still apply. Scotland’s tribunal breach-of-contract limit does not change until 9 November 2026. Timely Acas notification pauses the clock during early conciliation, but the exact final deadline needs calculation. Get advice promptly, especially if the treatment spans the changeover.

There is already extra redundancy protection for employees taking adoption leave. It does not make every redundancy unlawful. Ask your union or adviser to check the protected period and any suitable alternative vacancy, as well as the reason for selecting you.

Questions people ask

Do we have to wait for the parental order before taking leave?

No. The surrogacy leave route depends on intending to apply within six months of birth and expecting the order to be granted. Give your employer the required notice and any requested declaration. Do not wait for the court hearing.

Does an overseas surrogacy give us different leave dates?

Acas says adoption leave for UK and overseas surrogacy starts at birth or the day after. Do not assume it starts when you land back in the UK. Arrange any pre-birth travel absence separately and get specialist advice about legal parenthood and immigration paperwork.

What if neither of us is genetically related?

You cannot use the usual parental-order route. GOV.UK identifies adoption as the route to legal parenthood. Get specialist advice about the assessment, court process and adoption-leave eligibility before assuming you have the parental-order entitlement.

Do single intended parents get paternity leave?

The parental-order paternity route requires a partner sharing responsibility for the child. A sole intended parent uses adoption leave and pay if eligible. Shared parental leave requires a qualifying partner too.

Sources

1. Surrogacy rights at work, Acas, including its pages on adoption leave and pay, notice and evidence, leave timing and holiday and returning to work
2. Paternity leave and pay for surrogacy, Acas
3. Paternity pay and leave for adoption and surrogacy, GOV.UK
4. Shared parental leave and pay eligibility for adopters and parents using a surrogate, GOV.UK
5. Legal rights when using surrogates and donors and becoming the child’s legal parent, GOV.UK
6. Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, section 54, legislation.gov.uk, parental-order conditions and payments
7. Employment Rights Act 1996, section 57ZE, legislation.gov.uk, antenatal accompaniment
8. Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027, GOV.UK, statutory parental pay, lower earnings limit and National Living Wage used in the reality-check calculations
9. Statutory maternity pay, GOV.UK
10. Paternity leave, nidirect, Northern Ireland rules
11. Employment tribunal time limits, Acas, including October 2026 transitional rules
12. Employment Rights Act 2025 changes, Acas, in-force and scheduled dates