Parental leave planner

This planner works out parental leave under the law as it stands after the Constitutional Court's judgment in Van Wyk v Minister of Employment and Labour on 3 October 2025. That judgment struck down the old scheme of four months' maternity leave for mothers and ten days for everyone else, and read in an interim scheme in which two employed parents share four months and ten days between them however they choose. Almost everything written about maternity leave in South Africa before October 2025 is now out of date, and this planner is built on the new position.

You enter the expected date of birth, whether both parents are employed, how many weeks before the birth the birth mother wants to start, and, if you have agreed one, the split between you. The planner returns the earliest start date, the date before which the birth mother may not return to work, the total entitlement in days, each parent's share and the dates each share runs to.

What this calculator works out and who it is for

It is for expectant parents, adoptive parents and commissioning parents in a surrogacy arrangement who are working out how to divide leave between them, and for employers who want to grant the leave correctly under a scheme the Act's text does not yet reflect. It is also for the many parents whose employers' policies still speak of "maternity leave" and "parental leave" as separate things, and who need to show what the law now says.

Under the interim scheme there is one shared entitlement rather than two different ones. Where both parents are employed, they have four months and ten days of leave between them, which they may divide as they agree. Where only one parent is employed, or there is a single parent, that parent has four consecutive months. The birth mother keeps two protections that are about her body rather than about parenting: she may start her leave up to four weeks before the expected birth, or earlier on medical advice, and she may not work for six weeks after the birth unless a medical practitioner or midwife certifies that she is fit to do so.

The planner is not a UIF calculator. It works out the leave; the UIF benefits estimator on this site works out what the Fund pays, and the two are separate questions.

How the calculation works

The planner starts from the expected date of birth and subtracts the number of weeks before it that the birth mother wants to start, up to four. That is the start date. It adds six weeks to the expected date to find the date before which she may not return to work.

For a single or sole-employed parent it adds four calendar months to the start date and reports the end date. For two employed parents it works out the total entitlement in days by taking four calendar months from the start date, counting the days, and adding ten. It then splits those days. If you entered the birth mother's share, it uses that and gives the rest to the other parent. If you left it blank, it divides the total as equally as possible, because that is what the judgment says applies where the parents cannot agree.

The planner lays the two shares end to end, the birth mother first, and reports the dates. That is one common arrangement and the simplest to show. Whether the parents may instead take leave at the same time, or in alternating blocks, is not spelt out in the interim scheme; the planner says so and tells you to agree the pattern with each employer in writing.

Finally, it checks the birth mother's share against the six-week rule. If her share would end before six weeks after the birth, it warns you, because she cannot lawfully return to work in that window without a medical certificate, and her share needs to be long enough to cover it.

The law behind the numbers

Before October 2025 the Basic Conditions of Employment Act gave a birth mother four consecutive months of maternity leave under section 25, and gave every other parent ten consecutive days of parental leave under section 25A. Adoptive parents of a child under two and commissioning parents in a surrogacy arrangement had ten weeks under sections 25B and 25C, but only one of the two parents could take it; the other got ten days. Fathers, adoptive parents and commissioning parents were treated as secondary carers by law, whatever the family's actual arrangement.

In Van Wyk v Minister of Employment and Labour, decided on 3 October 2025, the Constitutional Court confirmed a High Court finding that this scheme unfairly discriminated between mothers and fathers, and between birth parents and adoptive and commissioning parents, in breach of the right to equality and the right to dignity. It declared sections 25, 25A, 25B and 25C of the Act, and the corresponding provisions of the Unemployment Insurance Act, unconstitutional. It suspended the declaration of invalidity for 36 months to give Parliament time to pass a new scheme, and read in an interim leave scheme to apply in the meantime. It expressly refused to do the same for the Unemployment Insurance Act.

The interim scheme is what the planner applies. Where both parents are employed, they are entitled to four months and ten days of parental leave between them, to be divided as they agree, and failing agreement as equally as possible. Where only one parent is employed, or there is a single parent, that parent is entitled to four consecutive months. The birth mother may commence leave at any time from four weeks before the expected date of birth, or earlier on medical advice, and may not work for six weeks after the birth unless a medical practitioner or midwife certifies that she is fit to do so. Adoptive and commissioning parents are parents for these purposes on the same footing as birth parents.

The leave is unpaid by the employer unless a contract, policy or collective agreement provides otherwise. The Unemployment Insurance Fund pays 66% of earnings, subject to its earnings ceiling, but still under the old categories until Parliament amends the Act or the suspension ends in about October 2028: maternity benefits to the birth mother for up to 121 days (17.32 weeks), a parental benefit of 10 consecutive days for a registered father or second parent, and ten weeks for one adoptive or one commissioning parent. So a second parent who takes a large share of the leave may have no UIF benefit beyond those 10 days. A draft Labour Law Amendment Bill published for comment in February 2026 proposes to align the UIF with the shared leave, but it is not law. Notice to the employer of the intention to take leave and of the dates must be given in writing at least four weeks before the leave starts, or as soon as reasonably practicable.

Whatever Parliament enacts within the 36 months will replace the interim scheme. Until then, an employer's policy that still gives mothers four months and fathers ten days is out of step with the law, and a father who asks for a larger share is asking for what the Constitutional Court has said he is entitled to.

Worked example

Lerato and Thabo both work. Their baby is due on 1 December 2026. Lerato wants to start four weeks before the birth, and they have not yet agreed a split, so they leave that field blank.

The planner sets the start date at 3 November 2026, four weeks before the due date. Six weeks after the due date is 12 January 2027, the date before which Lerato may not return to work without a certificate. Four months from 3 November 2026 is 3 March 2027, which is 120 days; adding ten gives a shared entitlement of 130 days. Divided as equally as possible, that is 65 days each.

Laid end to end, Lerato's 65 days run from 3 November 2026 to about 7 January 2027, and Thabo's 65 days from about 7 January to about 13 March 2027. The planner warns that Lerato's share ends on 7 January, five days before the six-week mark of 12 January, so an equal split does not quite work for her unless she returns on a medical certificate. They go back and enter 75 days for Lerato. Her share now runs to about 17 January 2027, clear of the six-week rule, and Thabo takes the remaining 55 days to about 13 March 2027.

If Thabo were not employed, the planner would instead give Lerato four consecutive months from 3 November 2026, running to about 3 March 2027, and the sharing question would not arise.

What the calculator does not include

It does not calculate UIF benefits. The UIF pays 66% of capped earnings under its old categories, not for each parent's share of the shared leave, and the UIF benefits estimator deals with the amounts.

It does not model simultaneous leave or alternating blocks. The interim scheme does not say whether the parents must take their shares one after the other or may overlap, and the planner shows the consecutive arrangement only.

It does not know what your employer pays. Some employers pay full or partial salary during leave under a policy or collective agreement, and some top up the UIF benefit. That is a matter for your contract.

It does not deal with the leave following a miscarriage or stillbirth. The old section 25(4) gave six weeks' leave after a miscarriage in the third trimester or a stillbirth, and the position under the interim scheme should be confirmed with an adviser.

It does not deal with the ten weeks' adoption and commissioning parental leave of the old scheme, which the judgment also struck down. Adoptive and commissioning parents now fall under the shared entitlement on the same basis as birth parents.

The dates are approximate. A month is counted as a calendar month from the start date, and the actual date of birth replaces the expected one once the baby arrives.

When to get advice

Most parents can plan their leave with this tool and a written agreement between them, and a written notice to each employer at least four weeks before the start. Keep both.

Get advice if an employer refuses to grant a father, adoptive parent or commissioning parent more than ten days, or insists that only one of the two of you may take the leave, because that is the old scheme and it no longer applies. Get advice if an employer treats a request for the new leave as a reason to dismiss or demote, which is automatically unfair. Get advice if you and the other parent cannot agree a split and one employer is refusing to accept an equal division. And speak to the UIF, or to a labour adviser who deals with it, before relying on a particular benefit figure, because the Fund still pays under the old categories and a second parent's share of the leave is mostly not covered.

Frequently asked questions

How much parental leave do we get now? Where both parents are employed, four months and ten days between you, divided as you agree. A single parent, or the only employed parent, gets four consecutive months. This follows the Constitutional Court's judgment of 3 October 2025.

Does the mother still have to take the four months? No. The birth mother may start up to four weeks before the birth and may not work for the six weeks after it, but beyond that the division is a matter of agreement between the parents.

Can the father take all of it? Subject to the six weeks the birth mother must take after the birth, yes, if that is what the parents agree. In practice her share must cover at least the four weeks before and six weeks after the birth unless she returns early on a medical certificate.

Is the leave paid? Not by the employer, unless a contract or policy says so. The UIF still pays under its old categories: a birth mother can claim maternity benefits for up to 121 days, but a father or second parent usually gets only the 10-day parental benefit, however much of the leave they take.

What about adoptive and commissioning parents? They are parents for these purposes on the same basis as birth parents, and share the same entitlement.

My employer's policy still says ten days for fathers. Does that stand? No. The Act's sections on which that policy was based have been declared unconstitutional and the interim scheme read in by the Court applies until Parliament legislates.

How long does the interim scheme last? The declaration of invalidity was suspended for 36 months from 3 October 2025. Whatever Parliament enacts in that time will replace the interim scheme.