Can't I just send some gift vouchers and a bunch of flowers and be done with it?
Well, while we'd never discourage you from doing those things, there are a few other points that have to be considered.
New parents are entitled to a whole variety of different leave and pay benefits, and to be completely honest it's a bit complicated. As such, we are going to break it up into a few sections, depending on exactly which type of new parent you are employing. These will be published over the coming months so do check back again soon to find out more.
Parents who are claiming paternity leave and benefits
Parents who are claiming maternity leave and benefits
Parents who are adopting
Parents who are using a surrogate to hatch a baby
and lastly, Parents who want to claim shared parental leave and benefits.
Forgive the woolly description, but we employ a pretty liberal blog-writer here at Greengages, and she is well-versed in the modern views on gender, but a bit vague on the biology of hatching babies!