Paternity Leave Confirmation Letter template
A paternity leave confirmation letter is the written reply an employer sends after an employee gives notice of paternity leave — confirming the dates of each booked block of leave, the pay the employee will receive, the expected return date, and who to tell if anything changes.
The statutory scheme runs on the employee's notice, and that notice does not even have to be in writing unless you have asked for it — so plenty of paternity leave is arranged in a conversation and reconstructed later, badly, when payroll asks. This letter turns the notice into a record: one set of dates that the employee, their manager, and payroll are all working from.
This template gives you the full letter with every placeholder marked, plus what to check before it goes out, how to handle dates that move, and how to file it. It is the companion letter to our paternity leave policy.
Full text, ready to adapt.
Highlighted fields are placeholders — replace them with your organisation's specifics. A starting point, not legal advice.
Paternity Leave Confirmation Letter
Letter · HR & People
1. When to use this letter
Send this letter once an employee has given notice of paternity leave, to confirm the booked weeks, the pay position, and the return date. It is the companion letter to our paternity leave policy, which promises written confirmation of dates and expected pay within [number] days of notice — this is that confirmation.
It also closes a gap the statutory scheme leaves open: an employee's paternity notice does not have to be in writing unless you have asked for that, so without this letter the only record of the dates may be a half-filled form or a corridor conversation. Payroll, the manager arranging cover, and the employee all work from what this letter says.
2. What to check first
- [Name/role] has checked eligibility for leave against the current conditions on GOV.UK — relationship to the child, length of service, and earnings — and payroll has separately confirmed whether statutory paternity pay is due; leave and pay have different tests.
- The notice arrived by the statutory deadlines on GOV.UK. There are separate deadlines for notifying the expected week of childbirth (or placement) and for the leave dates themselves — check both.
- The dates are whole weeks and fit the current block-splitting rules and statutory window on GOV.UK. The rules changed in recent years, so do not rely on what was true the last time someone here took paternity leave.
- If notice was short without a reasonable excuse, decide whether to accept the dates anyway or delay the start — GOV.UK sets out how, and the written response has its own deadline. This letter assumes you are confirming, not delaying.
- If the employee does not qualify for statutory paternity pay, this letter is not the vehicle for saying so: you must tell them on the statutory form (SPP1) within the time limit on GOV.UK, and keep a copy.
- The pay paragraph matches reality — the statutory rate payroll will apply from GOV.UK's published figures, or the enhanced terms in our paternity leave policy, not a vague blend of the two.
3. The letter template
[Date]
Dear [employee name],
Confirmation of your paternity leave
Thank you for your notice on [date of notice] that you intend to take paternity leave for the birth [or placement] of your child, expected in [expected week of childbirth / expected placement date]. This letter confirms the arrangements.
Your paternity leave is booked as follows: from [start date] to [end date] [if a second block is booked: and from [start date] to [end date]]. We have checked these dates against the current rules on GOV.UK — statutory paternity leave is taken in whole weeks and can be split into separate blocks within a statutory window after the birth or placement.
During your leave you will receive [statutory paternity pay at the current government rate — payroll applies the figures published on GOV.UK / enhanced paternity pay on the terms in our paternity leave policy: [amount and conditions]], paid through payroll on your normal pay dates.
Everything else about your employment carries on as normal: your terms and conditions continue apart from pay, your annual leave keeps accruing while you are off, and taking this leave will not count against you in any pay, progression, or performance decision. We expect your first day back at work to be [date].
If the baby arrives earlier or later than expected, or you want to move a booked week, tell [name/role] as soon as you can. Moving booked dates needs the statutory notice set out on GOV.UK; where the birth itself moves, we will simply re-confirm your dates in writing. If you are thinking about shared parental leave as well, speak to [name/role] before booking anything further — the sequencing rules between the two schemes matter, and our shared parental leave policy explains how they fit together.
If any detail in this letter looks wrong, contact [name/role] on [contact details] straight away so we can put it right before your leave starts. Otherwise — congratulations from all of us at {{org.name}}, and our best wishes to your family.
Yours sincerely,
[Name], [job title], {{org.name}}
4. If the dates change
Two changes are routine, and neither should generate friction. The birth moves: babies ignore due dates, so the employee tells [name/role] as soon as they can and you re-issue this letter with the corrected dates. Or the employee wants different weeks: moving booked dates needs the statutory notice period on GOV.UK, though {{org.name}} can agree a shorter-notice change by discretion — and usually should, because the alternative is someone at work the week their child arrives.
Whatever moved, the rule is the same: re-issue the confirmation letter and copy payroll the same day. The failure mode this letter exists to prevent is payroll running to one set of dates while the employee is off on another.
5. Delivery and record-keeping
- Send the letter by [email and/or post] within [number] days of the notice — the same timescale our paternity leave policy commits to.
- Copy payroll and the employee's manager the day it goes out, so pay and cover are built from one set of dates.
- File the employee's notice, any declaration or evidence you asked for, and every version of this letter in [system/location]. Statutory paternity pay must be backed by records kept for the period set out in the employer guide on GOV.UK — payroll's records and this file should tell the same story.
- Diary the expected return date and a first-week check-in — small, and it makes the policy statement about new parents actually taking their leave visible.
How to adapt this template.
Check the notice and dates against GOV.UK before confirming anything — whole weeks, block splitting, the statutory window, and the notice deadlines have all changed in recent years.
Confirm the pay position with payroll first: statutory rate, enhanced terms, or not eligible — and if statutory paternity pay is refused, issue form SPP1 by the GOV.UK deadline instead of fudging this letter.
Fill in every [bracketed placeholder], choosing one pay wording and deleting the other.
Send it within [number] days of the employee's notice — the timescale your paternity leave policy promises — copying payroll and the employee's manager.
Re-issue the letter whenever the dates or pay position change, and file each version with the original notice in [system/location].
Turn this template into trained, proven behaviour
A policy in a drawer proves nothing. In TrainedTeam this template becomes assigned training with knowledge checks, e-signature acknowledgments, version history, and an audit-ready record of who completed what, when.
Paternity Leave Confirmation Letter template FAQs
Does an employer have to confirm paternity leave in writing?
There is no general statutory requirement to — unlike maternity leave, where GOV.UK's employer guide requires written confirmation of the leave start and end dates within a set deadline, the paternity scheme has no equivalent step. But the employee's own notice does not have to be in writing unless you have asked for that, so without a confirmation letter there may be no written record of the dates at all. Confirming in writing is the cheap fix, and this template is that letter.
Can an employee split paternity leave into two separate weeks?
Under the current rules, yes — statutory paternity leave is taken in whole weeks and can be taken together or as separate blocks within a statutory window after the birth or placement. The block and window rules were reformed recently, so check GOV.UK before confirming a pattern rather than relying on how it worked for the last employee who took it.
What should a paternity leave confirmation letter include?
The dates of each booked block of leave, what the employee will be paid and how, confirmation that their terms and annual leave accrual continue, the expected return date, how changes work if the birth moves, and a named contact. Copy payroll — the letter is only useful if pay and cover run from the same set of dates it states.
Can an employee change their paternity leave dates after giving notice?
Yes. Moving booked dates needs the statutory notice period on GOV.UK, and where the baby simply arrives early or late the dates move with the birth — take the update and re-issue the confirmation letter. An employer can also agree a shorter-notice change by discretion, and usually should: the alternative is an employee at work the week their child is born.
What if the employee does not qualify for statutory paternity pay?
Do not paper over it in the confirmation letter. If an employee is not entitled to statutory paternity pay you must tell them using the statutory form (SPP1) within the time limit on GOV.UK, and keep a copy. They may still qualify for leave without pay — either way, use the alternatives conversation in our paternity leave policy (annual leave or unpaid leave by agreement) rather than improvising.
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