My understanding is yes you can reject, if every person in a business wanted parental leave at a specific time it would be unreasonable to shut the business to deal with the staff.

I think you have another thread - you can defer it for 6 months but cant refuse it.

"Spending time with their child" is an excellent reason and what parental leave was introduced for :)

If they give you enough notice so you can arrange cover I wouldn't be certain that could be a 'significant reason' for deferring but happy to be corrected.

In reply to Samantha:

Gah that'll teach me to speed read. I do think it would be fine to defer if it's because someone else is off at the same time.

In reply to Samantha:

Thanks Samantha and Alun, so basically it is fine to defer but it must be permitted? The issue we have with this employee is that they have taken nearly all of their dependent's leave entitlement (our policy allows 10 days per annum, and the individual has nearly taken them all) they are now querying whether they can use parental leave for situations where their childcare falls through unexpectedly or spending time with their child (they haven't clarified which yet, as it is all a hypothetical situation which may arise in the future) We've explained that parental leave is not usually for use for short term emergency situations, as notice is required, and this is what the dependent's leave is available for, but they don't now have any A/L entitlement left which they could use instead, so it is all getting a bit tricky as to how best to advise them, and we are obviously concerned about the amount of time they have taken off already as it is affecting the business.

Parental leave should be taken in weeks, if an individual takes a day (to cover childcare emergencies) I believe this then should be processed as a week therefore it would be better for the individual to take standard unpaid leave on this day, if annual leave isn’t available.

As it is all hypothetical and the individual has already taken a number of dependant leave days and exhausted annual leave, it might be worth having a conversation (once you have all the information you need) to chat through informally what the childcare arrangements currently are, what support they have etc to understand more around their personal circumstance and if any other flexibility can be provided. They may be asking for a full day or week when all they need is an hour or two? It would perhaps be better to try and accommodate than the employee be left with no options / going off sick if they get sick pay etc. Also, is annual leave being used for childcare, is the employee getting time off to themselves to rest and recuperate. Is there a well-being issue?

Lots to consider but deffo worth a conversation to understand the full picture.

But to answer your initial question, yes it can be deferred, up to 6 months and a date should be agreed at the point that the leave is postponed.

Hope all goes well

In reply to Sarah:

Yes it must be permitted within 6 months of the original requested date. The stat right is to take it in blocks of a week (up to 2 at a time, or can be in days if the child has a disability) but companies can at their discretion allow it in part weeks/days (I'm not sure they can process a day off as a week unpaid either as this would be unlawful deduction of wages, and, incorrect, as the employee would have been at work for the rest of that week).

It's separate to dependents leave and is a stat right so you couldn't use that amount of time they have already had off as a reason to say no to parental leave if they give appropriate notice etc. And even though they have already had nearly 10 days off (over how long?) This could still be reasonable depending on the circumstances and over how long)

I'd advise the employee that they keep back whatever dependent leave they have for emergencies and put in requests for parental leave if they want to spend time with the child or if they know there will be future childcare issues (and do consider allowing it in odd days as this not only helps the employee but means your business isn't as affected as it would be) and advise them of the details around it - notice needed, can be deferred to an alternative date within 6 months if business can justify etc.

Am surprised there is concern over how much time they have had off already if they have only used what they are entitled to (ie a/l and the 10 days)....is their sick record high?