Shared Parental Leave

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Have you heard about the new Shared Parental Leave?

How might Shared Parental Leave impact your business?

Shared Parental Leave (SPL) was introduce in April this year and applies to parents whose babies were due on or after 5th April or adopted a child on or after 5th April.  This does not replace Maternity and Paternity leave, but is an alternative to consider.

The main difference between Maternity / Paternity leave and Shared Parental Leave is that your employees can elect to take leave in blocks with periods between when they come back to work, instead of taking all leave in one go.

To take advantage of SPL your employee will have to advise you that they are ending their maternity leave.

If they are eligible they can take:

  • The remaining leave as SPL (52 weeks minus any weeks of maternity or adoption leave)

Up to 3 separate blocks of SPL can be booked even if your employee isn’t sharing the leave with their partner.

If their partner (which could be your employee) is also eligible for SPL, they can take up to 3 blocks of leave each.

They can take leave at different times or both at the same time.

Here’s an example:

Your female employee finishes her maternity leave at the end of March and takes the rest of her leave as SPL. She shares it with her partner, who’s also eligible. They each take the whole of April as their first blocks of SPL. The partner then returns to work.

Your employee also returns to work in May. She gives you notice that she’ll go on leave again in July, which will be her second block of SPL. Finally, you agree with her a work pattern of 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off during the remaining block.

Statutory Shared Parental Pay

Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) is £139.58 per week or 90% of your employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.

This is the same as Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), however during the first 6 weeks SMP is paid at 90% of earnings, with no maximum.

If you would like HR support regarding an employee that would like to take Shared Parental Leave contact, please give us a call on 01737 336336 or email charlie@lloydhrconsultancy.co.uk.