(1) Subject to this Act, an employee who is a relevant parent in respect of a child shall be entitled to leave from his or her employment, to be known and referred to in this Act as 'parental leave', for a period of 18 working weeks to enable him or her to take care of the child.

(1A) The reference in subsection (1) to a period of 18 working weeks shall be construed -

(a) in the period from 1 September 2019 to 31 August 2020, as a reference to a period of 22 working weeks, and

(b) on and from 1 September 2020, as a reference to a period of 26 working weeks.

(2) Subject to sections 10(4) and 11(6), a period of parental leave shall end -

(a) subject to paragraphs (b) and (c), not later than the day on which the child concerned attains the age of 12 years,

(b) subject to paragraph (c), in the case of a child who -

(i) is the subject of an adoption order, and

(ii) has, on or before the date of the making of that order, attained the age of 10 years but not 12 years,