---
title: "The Employment Rights Act 1996 (Application of Section 80B to Parental Order Cases) (Amendment) Regulations 2026"
id: 55239ce1-940c-4247-bb92-d607276d67a4
authority: uk
place: "United Kingdom"
applies_also_from: []
kind: regulation
in_force: true
publisher_url: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/236
attribution: "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
solon_url: https://solon.orangecat.ch/law/55239ce1-940c-4247-bb92-d607276d67a4
language: en
in_force_from: 2026-03-10
date_basis: publisher
status: consolidated
source_url: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/236/data.xml
read_on: 2026-11-10
sha256: 5304b1d2bf93a167b1fe603685c65b2a6ebd96a0dce0bea03745775422d9c959
provisions: 3
---

# The Employment Rights Act 1996 (Application of Section 80B to Parental Order Cases) (Amendment) Regulations 2026

## Title and introductory text {#prelims}

2026 No. 236
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
The Employment Rights Act 1996 (Application of Section 80B to Parental Order Cases) (Amendment) Regulations 2026
Made
9th March 2026
Coming into force
10th March 2026
The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the power conferred by section 80B(9) of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
In accordance with section 236(3) of that Act, a draft of the instrument was laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

## 1 Citation, commencement and extent {#regulation-1}

These Regulations—
(a) may be cited as the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Application of Section 80B to Parental Order Cases) (Amendment) Regulations 2026,
(b) come into force on 10th March 2026, and
(c) extend to England and Wales and Scotland.

## 2 Amendment of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Application of Sections 75A, 75B, 75G, 75H, 80A and 80B to Parental Order Cases) Regulations 2014 {#regulation-2}

(1) The Employment Rights Act 1996 (Application of Sections 75A, 75B, 75G, 75H, 80A and 80B to Parental Order Cases) Regulations 2014 are amended as follows.
(2) In regulation 1 (citation, commencement and interpretation)—
(a) in paragraph (2), after the definition of “intended parent”, insert—
“primary parental order parent”, in relation to a child, means the person who elects to be the child’s primary carer—
on whose application the court has made an order under section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 in respect of the child, or
who applies, or intends to apply, during the period of 6 months beginning with the day of the child’s birth, with another person for such an order in respect of the child, and expects the court to make that order;
;
(b) after paragraph (2), insert—
(3) For the purposes of the definition of “primary parental order parent” in paragraph (2), a person (“A”) elects to be a child’s primary carer if A and the person (“B”) with whom A has applied, or intends to apply, for an order under section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 in respect of the child agree that A, and not B, will be the child’s primary carer.
.
(3) In regulation 4 (application of sections 80A and 80B of the Act to parental order parents), after “section 54 parental order parents”, insert “and primary parental order parents”.
(4) In the table in Schedule 2, in the second column of the entry for section 80B—
(a) after “Omit subsection (6B).”, insert—
For subsection (6C) substitute—
(6C) In relation to cases where the primary parental order parent of a child dies, this section has effect as if—
(a) in subsection (1)(c), after “intended parent” there were inserted “or primary parental order parent”;
(b) after subsection (1) there were inserted—
(1A) But in a case where the primary parental order parent of a child dies and—
(a) the employee does not apply for an order under section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 within the time limit set by subsection (3) of that section,
(b) the employee’s application for an order under that section for the child is refused, withdrawn or otherwise terminated without the order being granted and any time for an appeal or a new application has expired, or
(c) the child dies,
the regulations may provide that an employee who satisfies those conditions is entitled to leave under this section despite the fact that the leave cannot be taken for that purpose.
.
.
;
(b) in the insertion of subsection (7A)—
(i) omit the “and” after the definition of “intended parent”;
(ii) at the end of the definition of “parental order” (before the full stop), insert—
;
“primary parental order parent”, in relation to a child, means the person who elects to be the child’s primary carer—
on whose application the court has made an order under section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 in respect of the child, or
who applies, or intends to apply, during the period of 6 months beginning with the day of the child’s birth, with another person for such an order in respect of the child, and expects the court to make that order
;
(c) after the insertion of subsection (7A), insert—
After subsection (7A) insert—
(7B) For the purposes of the definition of “primary parental order parent” in subsection (7A), a person (“A”) elects to be a child’s primary carer if A and the person (“B”) with whom A has applied, or intends to apply, for an order under section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 in respect of the child agree that A, and not B, will be the child’s primary carer.
.
.