Acas receives around 39,000 calls to its helpline each year from employers and employees about parental issues, including time off for antenatal and adoption appointments. One can imagine with the recent changes in this area and the complexity of the new rules on shared parental leave that this figure will only increase. In response to demand, ACAS has produced two guides.

The first is entitled Surrogacy and rights for intended parents and the second is entitled time off for antenatal appointments.  Both can be found here. They are a useful starting point for some of the more basic enquiries employers and employees may have around their rights and obligations.