My partner started a new job. Will he qualify for parental leave?

I’m due to give birth in the Spring. I have worked for the same employer and been continuously employed for the past eight years so know that I will qualify for leave and pay. I’d like to take nine months leave and then have my partner take a month or two at the end meaning 11 months would be taken in total. We’d like to overlap for one of the months. However, my partner got a new job this summer and started recently. This means that he does not meet the criteria for having had 26 weeks employment with the same employer at 15 weeks before due date. By the time he would take over my leave there would not be any ‘pay’ to be had – just leave. But does this mean that he is not entitled to share the leave with me?

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The eligibility requirements for both Shared Parental Leave and statutory paternity leave are the same in that the partner would have to have been employed for at least 26 weeks by the 15th week before the baby is due so I think he would not be eligible on either account.

However, he could ask for unpaid parental leave at the end of your leave as he would have been employed for at least a year by the time you want him to take the leave and so would still be able to take time off while you are off.