Amount of shared parental leave and rate of pay
[ch 2: pages 22-23]An employed mother and her partner who are entitled to shared parental leave can expect to receive the following statutory amounts of leave and pay:
• 52 weeks of leave can be taken as shared parental leave (after the mother has taken the minimum period of statutory maternity leave of two weeks, or four weeks if she works in a factory);
• 39 weeks of pay or maternity allowance as statutory Shared Parental Pay (after receiving the minimum period of Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) for two weeks, or four weeks where the mother works in a factory);
Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) is paid at the rate of £138.18 a week or 90% of an employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. ShPP is different to Statutory Maternity Pay where the first six weeks is more generous and is paid at the rate of 90% of what the woman earned before she went on maternity leave, regardless of how much she is paid. After the first six weeks, the rate of statutory parental pay is the same as SMP.