BPPL: How much leave is available?

Eligibility window

Generally, an employee can only take bereaved partner's paternity leave (BPPL) during the eligibility window.

For births (including surrogacy situations), this window starts on the day after the child's birth and ends 52 weeks later (i.e. on their 1st birthday).

For adoptions, this window starts on the day after the child is placed for adoption and ends 52 weeks later (i.e. on the 1st anniversary of the adoption).

How much of the window is available to an employee depends on when the primary carer dies.

Example 1: The child's primary carer dies during the birth. The employee could, potentially, take the full 52 weeks of BPPL available during the window, or a shorter period of their choice.

Example 2: The child's primary carer dies 30 weeks after an adoption. There are a maximum of 22 weeks of BPPL remaining in the window for the employee to potentially take.

There is an exception to this if the child's primary carer dies up to 13 days before the end of the window. In this case, the window is extended so that it ends 14 days after the day of the death.

Example: The child's 1st birthday is 1 May. Their primary carer dies on 30 April. The employee can potentially take BPPL from 1 May to 14 May (inclusive).

Note:

• Employees must take BPPL as one continuous block and not as multiple, separate blocks.
• If an employee is dismissed while taking BPPL, the BPPL ends on the date of the dismissal.
• There is no extra entitlement for multiple births (or where more than one child is placed for adoption at the same time).
• The rules are slightly different in relation to overseas adoptions.