Employers need to be aware of family leave rights in the Isle of Man in order to give effect to at least the minimum legal entitlements. Many employers, however, choose to enhance the leave allowance they give employees to help with work-life balance and also be competitive in recruiting talent. These days, employees’ expectations about their total “package” are not just focused on remuneration but, increasingly, on the non-cash benefits that may be offered as well as general “flexibility”.
Below, we have summarised the key Isle of Man (“IoM”) family leave rights.
| CURRENT FAMILY LEAVE RIGHTS IN THE ISLE OF MAN |
| MATERNITY LEAVE – all pregnant employees are entitled to 26 weeks’ ordinary maternity leave provided that certain notice requirements are complied with. Employees who have 26 weeks’ service at the beginning of the 14th week before the expected week of childbirth are also entitled to take up to 26 weeks’ additional maternity leave. Most employees are therefore entitled to take up to a year’s maternity leave in total. Unlike in the UK, there is no entitlement to statutory maternity pay (in the sense of a scheme administered by the employer). In practice, company maternity pay is commonly offered by IoM employers, though there is wide variation in terms of the rates at which time off is paid and how long the period of paid leave is. Usually, company maternity pay is provided as an enhancement of Government Maternity Allowance, which is available from the IoM Government (subject to qualifying criteria) and claimed directly by the employee. |
| PATERNITY LEAVE – this is available for the father or the mother’s partner and consists of 1 or 2 weeks’ leave within 56 days of the birth of a baby. The right is subject to certain conditions including notification and the employee has to have, or expect to have, responsibility for the upbringing of the child. In addition, the employee must have worked continuously for the employer for 26 weeks at the beginning of the 15th week before the baby is due. There is no statutory paternity pay for employees who take paternity leave but, as with maternity pay, many employers offer a period of paid paternity leave. Paternity Allowance is available from the IoM Government and, again, claimed directly by the employee. To avoid the employee receiving a “windfall”, company paternity pay is usually expressed as being payable “net of” Government Paternity Allowance in the terms of employment or relevant policy. |
| ADOPTION LEAVE – leave matching that for birth parents (maternity & paternity) is available for, respectively, the main adopter of a child and the co-parent/partner of the main adopter. Provided the required notice is given, leave can start either from the date on which the child is placed with the main adopter or on another specified date within 14 days of placement. Adoption Allowance and Paternity Allowance (adoption) are available from the IoM Government subject to meeting eligibility criteria. The latter is available to someone who is either married or in an enduring family relationship with (but not an immediate relative of) the main adopter, who will be responsible for the child’s upbringing, and who will take time off to support the person adopting the child or take care of the child. The right to take adoption leave is by default unpaid, although employers may pay some or all of the leave period depending on their policy and specific benefits extended to employees. |
| PARENTAL LEAVE FOR PARENTS OF DISABLED CHILDREN – this right is available to parents of a disabled child only (but see the section below relating to the separate right to shared parental leave). This type of parental leave is the right for the parent of a disabled child to take a maximum of 18 weeks’ unpaid leave before the child is 18. The employee requires one year’s service to exercise the right, they have to have responsibility for a child in receipt of a disability living allowance, and there are limits on the amount of leave that may be taken in any one leave year (4 weeks’ maximum). There are, in addition, notice requirements and the employer can postpone leave on business grounds. |
| TIME OFF FOR ANTENATAL CARE – mothers-to-be are entitled to paid time off to attend antenatal care, irrespective of length of service or hours worked. After the first appointment, an employer can request documentary evidence of the employee’s pregnancy and to see their appointment letter or card. Additionally, from 1 April 2025, a new right to time of for partners to attend ante natal appointments came into effect in the IoM. This right allows an employee who has a “qualifying relationship*” with a pregnant employee (*which includes, among others, the pregnant employee’s husband, wife or civil partner) to take unpaid time off to attend ante-natal appointments with the pregnant employee. Unlike the right for expectant mothers to take unlimited paid time off to attend antenatal care, the right for partners to take unpaid leave to attend antenatal appointments is limited to two appointments (each capped at 6.5 hours). |
| SHARED PARENTAL LEAVE (“SPL”) – SPL came into effect in the IoM from 1 November 2025. SPL is an optional arrangement for eligible employees which operates in line with (but not in addition to) existing rights to maternity and adoption leave. The SPL regulations are complex but, in summary, an eligible employee can generally elect to switch to use the remainder of any non-compulsory unused maternity or adoption leave entitlement as SPL instead, meaning that the remaining “pool” of leave can be shared with an eligible partner (subject to service of notices within prescribed timeframes, the timing of which depends on how the couple would like to share the SPL). The IoM Government provides an allowance for those on SPL who do not have access to paid leave. Similarly to maternity, paternity and adoption leave, there is no requirement for employers to pay an employee whilst they are on SPL but IoM employers commonly offer paid SPL to sit alongside any existing enhanced pay entitlements during maternity, paternity and adoption leave. |
| PARENTAL BEREAVEMENT LEAVE – with effect from 1 November 2025, a new right was introduced for employees in an “eligible relationship” with a child to take up to two weeks’ unpaid leave if the child dies or is stillborn. Prospective parents (or others in an eligible relationship) who suffer a miscarriage are also entitled to one week’s unpaid leave. In either case, the leave must be taken within 56 weeks after the date of death, stillbirth or miscarriage. Whilst the right is to unpaid leave, the IoM Government provides a parental bereavement allowance for employees and many IoM employers already offer discretionary paid “special” leave and/or compassionate leave (which often exceed the new statutory minimum entitlements to unpaid leave). As part of the Government’s ongoing efforts to modernise and update employment legislation in the IoM, the Department for Enterprise is bringing forward further amendments to this right via the Employment (Amendment) Act 2025 which, at the time of writing, recently received Royal Assent. Part of such amendments will allow for different types of pregnancy loss to be eligible for parental bereavement leave (such as ectopic pregnancy). |
| TIME OFF TO ATTEND ADOPTION APPOINTMENTS – from 1 April 2025, employees adopting a child or children on their own are entitled to paid time off to attend up to five adoption appointments. An employee adopting a child, or children, with another person may elect for one of them to take paid time off to attend up to five appointments whilst the other may take unpaid time off to attend up to two adoption appointments. In both cases, the permitted time for such appointments is capped at 6.5 hours. |
| TIME OFF TO CARE FOR DEPENDANTS IN EMERGENCIES – from 1 April 2025, an employee has the right to unpaid time off work to deal with an emergency involving a dependant. The right is for a “reasonable” period of time off so the amount of time which is appropriate to allow should therefore be considered in light of the employee’s circumstances and the emergency in question. Whilst this statutory right is to unpaid leave, many IoM employers already offer discretionary paid “special” leave and/or compassionate leave to cover emergencies involving an employee’s dependant. Under this right, time off may only be taken for the prescribed reasons involving a dependant which include a dependant’s injury, illness, assault, childbirth, disruption of care arrangements and a child being involved in an incident during school hours. “Dependants” is also broadly defined for the purposes of this right to include (among others) a spouse, civil partner, child, grandchild, parent or grandparent. |
NEW FAMILY LEAVE RIGHTS – UPCOMING DEVELOPMENTS
At the time of writing, the Employment (Amendment) Act 2025 has received Royal Assent and, in addition to the amendments proposed to the Parental Bereavement Leave regime mentioned above, the Act caters for further new family-friendly employment rights, including:
- Neonatal care leave – whereby eligible parents with a child in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (“NICU”) will be able to claim up to 12 weeks of additional parental leave. At the time of writing, statutory maternity leave entitlement is the same regardless of the circumstances surrounding a child’s birth meaning that parents with newborns requiring admission to the NICU often need to return to work shortly after their child’s discharge from hospital. The right to neonatal care leave is designed to address this situation by increasing the time available for bonding and recovery at home; and
- Carer’s leave – a new two-tier provision allowing employees to take time off if they are unpaid carers. For eligible carers, a period of one week would be available each year and a longer-term leave provision would be available for carers seeking to take extended leave to help manage their responsibilities. This development followed research based on the IoM Census which identified that there are 4,869 people over the age of 10 who provide unpaid care on a regular basis, with some carers experiences being equivalent to that of a full-time job.
The detail of the new rights (including eligibility criteria, duration and conditions) will be developed further by regulations to be drafted by the Department for Enterprise and its provisions are not expected to come into full effect any earlier than April 2027. In light of the number of recent and upcoming changes to family leave rights in the IoM, employers may wish to revise their policies and raise awareness of the changes internally.
Contact Cains’ employment team for latest updates and information relating to family leave rights and for reviews of relevant policies to remain in-step with changes in the law.
Last updated: 26 August 2026
