Time off for antenatal appointments: a UK employer guide

Yes, for pregnant employees. The Employment Rights Act 1996 gives a pregnant employee the right to take time off during working hours for antenatal care, and to be paid for it. GOV.UK says employers must pay their normal rate for this time off, and Acas confirms the right applies from the first day in the job.

The time off cannot come out of annual leave, and Acas says an employer cannot expect the employee to make the time up later. The employee must have told you about the pregnancy before they can rely on the right.

Antenatal care is not limited to medical appointments. The appointment must be made on the advice of a doctor, registered midwife or registered nurse. GOV.UK says antenatal or parenting classes count if a doctor or midwife has recommended them.

The law does not set a number of hours or appointments, only that the time off must be reasonable. It covers the appointment itself and the travel to and from it.

As a rough guide, Acas says someone may have up to 10 antenatal appointments if it is their first baby, and around 7 if they have had a baby before. Employers should be flexible where more are needed, for example because of a pre-existing health condition. You cannot unreasonably refuse time off during working hours.

The legal minimum is the appropriate hourly rate: one week's pay divided by the employee's normal weekly working hours. Where hours vary, use the average weekly hours over the 12 weeks ending with the last complete week before the appointment. For most salaried staff this simply means paying them as normal.

Contractual pay for the same time counts towards this, so you never pay twice. If a tribunal finds you unreasonably refused time off, it must order you to pay twice the amount the employee would have been paid for the time.

Not for the first one. From the second appointment, you can ask to see a certificate confirming the pregnancy, from a doctor, registered midwife or registered nurse, and an appointment card or other document showing the appointment has been made.

Ask once and keep the request proportionate. Repeated requests for paperwork, or questions about why an appointment could not be outside working hours, risk becoming an unreasonable refusal.

Partners have a separate right to unpaid time off to accompany the pregnant woman to up to two antenatal appointments per pregnancy, for up to 6.5 hours each, including travel. It covers a husband, wife or civil partner, someone living with her in an enduring family relationship, the child's father, and intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement who will apply for a parental order.

You can ask for a signed declaration, which may be electronic, stating the qualifying relationship, that the time is to accompany her to antenatal care made on professional advice, and the date and time of the appointment. You cannot ask for proof of the appointment itself. You can choose to pay this time or offer more, and further appointments can be taken as holiday or made up if both sides agree.

Agency workers get paid time off for antenatal appointments once they have completed their 12-week qualifying period. Acas says there is no legal duty to offer paid time off to casual and zero-hours workers, but employers should consider it as good practice.

There is no legal right to time off for IVF treatment, but Acas recommends treating IVF appointments the same as other medical appointments and being open to requests for paid or unpaid time off, holiday or flexible working.

Record antenatal appointments as their own absence type, separate from holiday and sickness. Booking them as holiday takes away paid leave the employee is entitled to keep, and recording them as sickness can feed into absence triggers that should never apply to pregnancy.

In Leavely you can set up a separate leave type with half-day booking, so appointments are tracked without touching the holiday balance.