Shared Parental Leave and Pay


Shared Parental Leave (SPL) is a right that enables eligible mothers, fathers, partners and adopters to choose how to share time off work after their child is born or placed for adoption (see pages 58-59). It replaced Additional Parental Leave (APL) for all babies born on or after 5 April 2015.


It is up to the mother to decide whether or not to convert her statutory maternity leave entitlement into SPL. If she says no, then her partner cannot insist on SPL. 


SPL and pay is available to a birth mother and the child’s father, or a mother’s or adopter’s partner. “Partner” means a person who the mother or adopter is married to or in a civil partnership with; or a partner who the mother or adopter is living with in an enduring relationship. SPL and pay is also available to intended parents in surrogacy arrangements who qualify for adoption leave and/or pay.


Agency workers who are entitled to SMP or Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP)are not eligible for SPL, but their employed partner may be. Agency workers and/or their partners may also be entitled to statutory Shared Parental Pay.


The TUC welcomed SPL as a way to “encourage more fathers to get involved in childcare from the very beginning”, but warned that unless the leave is backed up with better pay, many couples will be unable to take advantage of these rights. 


Figures published by the government in February 2018, show that while around 285,000 couples every year are eligible to SPL, take up could be as low as 2%. 


There are complex and extensive eligibility and notification requirements for those wishing to use the rights to SPL. A group of charities and legal experts has produced a useful web portal providing help in navigating the SPL regime, called “SPLash” at: www.sharedparentalleave.org.uk.


Eligibility

To qualify for SPL and pay, a mother must be entitled to maternity or adoption leave, or statutory maternity or adoption pay, or maternity allowance, and must share the main responsibility for caring for the child with the child’s father or her partner. In addition, they will be required to follow a two-step process to establish eligibility.


Step 1— Continuity test: A parent seeking to take SPL must have worked for the same employer for at least 26 weeks at the end of the 15th week before the week in which the child is due (or the date they are matched with their adoption child) and be still employed in the first week that SPL is to be taken.


The partner wishing to share parental leave must have worked for 26 weeks in the 66 weeks leading up to the due date and have earned above the Maternity Allowance (MA) threshold of £30 a week in 13 of the 66 weeks.


Step 2 — Individual eligibility for pay: To qualify for Shared Parental Pay, as well as passing the continuity test, the parent must also have earned an average salary of the lower earnings limit or more (currently £116) for the eight weeks’ up to and including the 15th week before the expected week of confinement (EWC) or in the case of adoption the child’s matching date.


It is up to the mother or adopter to decide whether to continue on Maternity Leave or opt to take SPL.


SPL may be taken at any time within the period which begins two weeks after the child is born or the date of the placement, and ends 52 weeks after that date. The leave must be taken in complete weeks and may be taken either in a continuous period, which an employer cannot refuse, or in a discontinuous period, which the employer can refuse.


An employed mother and her partner who are entitled to SPL can expect to receive the following statutory amounts of leave and pay: 


• the rest of the 52 weeks of leave (up to a maximum of 50) can be taken as SPL after the mother has taken the minimum period of Statutory Maternity Leave (SML) of two weeks (or four weeks if she works in a factory);


• the rest of the 39 weeks of pay or MA as statutory Shared Parental Pay (up to a maximum of 37 — after the minimum period of SMP for two weeks (or four weeks where the mother works in a factory); 


• Shared Parental Pay is paid at the rate of £145.18 a week or 90% of an employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. It is paid from day one at the flat weekly rate (or 90% of salary if less). 


Shared Parental Leave rules 


Key features of the Shared Parental Leave (SPL) are:


• a woman must take the first two weeks’ compulsory maternity leave following birth (four weeks if she works in a factory). She can choose whether to share the balance of her leave;


• a woman who wants to opt into SPL must give at least eight weeks’ binding notice to bring her maternity leave to an end. That notice can be given at any stage, including before the birth. However, to allow her to change her mind after the birth, there is a window of up to six weeks after the birth to withdraw the notice; 


• at the same time as giving notice of their eligibility and intention to take SPL, parents are expected to provide a non-binding indication of their intended leave pattern; 


• in addition, employees must give eight weeks’ notice of their intention to take specific periods of leave; 


• the number of requests for SPL or changes to leave is capped at three. However, this does not prevent voluntary arrangements being agreed with the employer;


• employers are given some ability under the rules to veto the proposed pattern of leave and to insist on it being in one continuous block;


• each parent can work 20 “SPLIT” (shared parental leave “in touch”) days, in addition to the 10 “Keep In Touch” (KIT) days available to a woman on maternity leave to stay in contact with the workplace; 


• parents can take the leave at the same time if they want to;


• parents can take SPL until the child’s first birthday; and


• the right to return to the same job is only available where the total amount of leave taken by that employee, even if taken in discontinuous chunks, adds up to 26 weeks or less.