Everyone
Primary carer leave
Leave for primary carers is available to employees who are primary carer of a child. They may also be eligible for parental leave payments while on primary carer leave.
What is primary carer leave and who is it for?
Primary carer leave is the most common type of parental leave, letting employees take up to 26 weeks’ leave from their jobs if they are:
- pregnant or have given birth to a child, including as a surrogate
- the spouse or partner of someone who has given birth if they will be taking primary responsibility for the child’s care, and
- the birth mother transferred their parental leave payments to them
- the birth mother died or is excluded from the child’s care and her parental leave payments have been succeeded to them
- at the time they become primary carer the child is under 1 years old, the birth mother is excluded from the child’s care and had not applied for or was not entitled to parental leave payments
- someone other than the birth mother or their spouse or partner who is taking permanent responsibility for the care of a child under the age of 6. This could be through adoption, a whāngai arrangement, or under a Permanent Care agreement with Oranga Tamariki (previously known as Home for Life).
The employee must have worked for the same employer for at least an average of 10 hours a week in the 6 months just before:
- the due date of the baby, or
- the date they become the primary carer of the child under 6.
They must take their primary carer leave in one continuous period. If they return to work, they will stop being eligible for primary carer leave.
If an employee is eligible for primary carer leave and has a miscarriage, or their baby is stillborn or dies, they are still entitled to 26 weeks of parental leave. Where a miscarriage or death of the baby happens before the employee has applied for primary carer leave, the employee can still apply for primary carer leave.
Special situations to be aware of
Parental leave eligibility table [PDF, 1013 KB]
They cannot take primary carer leave if:
- they’ve already taken a period of parental leave or similar leave in relation to the same child
- they have not worked for the same employer continuously for 6 months or more. If they’ve worked for their current employer for less than 6 months, they may be able to take negotiated carer leave instead.
Getting parental leave payments from Inland Revenue
Employees on primary carer leave may be eligible for parental leave payments.
Parental leave payments are funded by the government and paid by Inland Revenue. Anyone applying for parental leave payments needs to apply to Inland Revenue.
Some employers provide extra parental leave payments, for example:
- top-up payments while you’re getting parental leave payments from Inland Revenue
- payments after your Inland Revenue parental leave payments finish
- a one-off payment when you return to work or after a specified period of time.
Employees can check their employment agreements or workplace policies to find out if they get extra parental leave pay.
Requesting primary carer leave
If an employee or their spouse or partner are:
- having a baby and want to take primary carer leave, they must write to their employer at least 3 months before the baby’s expected due date
- going to become the permanent primary carer of a child under 6 years old, they should let their employer know when it’s likely to happen as soon as they can. But they must write to their employer at least 14 days before they want to take primary carer leave.
Employees taking extended leave after primary carer leave must let their employer know this at the same time.
When does primary carer leave start?
If they’re pregnant, their primary carer leave will officially start on their child’s due date or the day the child is born, whichever comes first. In any other case, their primary carer leave will start on the date they become the child’s permanent carer.
However, they can start their primary carer leave up to 6 weeks before then if they want to take time off work before their child arrives.
If they have other paid leave they can take — like annual holidays or time off in lieu — they can talk to their employer about using that up before they start their primary carer leave.
When primary carer leave has to start early
If an employee has to start their primary carer leave earlier than 6 weeks before their due date, they will still be eligible to take at least 20 weeks of primary carer leave after their baby is born. This only applies if:
- their baby is born prematurely
- their doctor or midwife thinks it’s necessary for them to start their leave early
- their employer directs them to start their leave early because they physically cannot do their job well or safely due to their pregnancy and their employer does not have another job to move them to.
That means they may end up taking more than 26 weeks of primary carer leave in total. If they do take longer than 26 weeks of primary carer leave, the extra time would not be counted towards their extended leave entitlement.
If they're taking negotiated carer leave or partner's leave, they will need to speak with their employer to agree earlier or longer leave arrangements.
If the baby is premature
If the baby is born before the end of 36 weeks’ gestation, the employee may be able to get a preterm baby payment from Inland Revenue to help cover some of their costs during this time. They can get preterm baby payments for up to 13 weeks paid at the same rate as their parental leave payments without it affecting their ability to get parental leave payments. Any weeks where the employee is getting a preterm baby payment do not count as part of their primary carer leave.
When you can apply for parental leave payments - Inland Revenue Department(external link)
When their primary carer leave ends
Their primary carer leave will end after 26 weeks.
If the employee is eligible, they can take extended leave after primary carer leave. For employees who are eligible for 52 weeks’ parental leave, this is usually taken as 26 weeks’ primary carer leave plus a further period of up to 26 weeks’ extended leave.
If they are not eligible for extended leave or choose not to take it, they will need to decide what they want to do at the end of primary carer leave — for example, they could:
- return to work as planned
- decide not to go back to work at all.
Whatever they decide, they must give their employer at least 21 days’ notice of their plans.
Returning to work after parental leave
If the baby is not staying in the birth mother’s care, including adoption and surrogacy
If they are pregnant or have given birth to a baby who will not remain in their care, they’re still entitled to the full 26 weeks of primary carer leave.
If they have a miscarriage, their baby is stillborn or dies
If they’re eligible for primary carer leave and parental leave payments, then they will stay eligible even if their baby dies before or after birth.