Redundancy & Paternity Pay

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Hi All,

After 12 years at my company, I was made redundant 14th July with a notice period of 12 weeks, so my last day is 6th Oct. I was planning on going on Paternity leave 2nd October prior to finding out about this redundancy, as my first child is due 3rd Oct (yup thats right! how's yah luck, redundancy right after having a baby.. joy).

My letter states I have to work the full notice period. So my question is, If I start my Paternity 2nd Oct, taking the full two weeks, does my employer have to pay me the 90% salary for the two weeks (which I believe is retrieved back from the gov anyway?), despite this paternity going past my notice period of the 6th Oct? 

I should state we have no HR department. 

If you find any links to support your most appreciated response, please paste them in here to support my case !

Thanks,
Adam

mark_cycling00

According to the workingfamiles website, the rules are:

In order to be eligible for paternity leave, you must:

• have or expect to have responsibility for the child’s upbringing.
• be the biological father of the child or the mother’s husband, civil partner or partner (see above).
• have worked continuously for your employer for 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth (‘the qualifying week’).
• still be employed by your employer on the day the child is born.

date of birth seems to be key, not the due-date. You can't start paternity prior to the birth, but if the child is born early then you can start from that date.

you are expected to give notice to your employer:

• You must give notice for paternity leave and SPP by the end of the 15th week before the baby is due. If you have not given notice on time, give it as soon as possible.

Are you about 10 weeks away and not given notice? I guess this is where without an HR department and published policies then this could be tricky to resolve.

then we get to the more complex rule about does a pre-arranged redundancy date terminate paternity leave. Not found anything authoritative on this.

I think your employer can reclaim the statutory part of the paternity pay but not the difference between £150 or so per week and your actual salary. So it may not be "free" to them if they pay more than the statutory amount. 
People have have better info on this than me