How does shared parental leave work in the UK?

As enhanced maternity and paternity leave allowances become an increasingly popular way to retain and entice talent to UK businesses, shared parental leave (SPL) is a newer policy that is on the rise and starring in more benefits packages than ever before.

Shared parental leave refers to a period of leave after a baby is born – and instead of one parent utilising a full year of leave, the leave is shared by both parents.

This article will look at what shared parental leave actually means, how it works and best practice for employers looking to support employees taking SPL.

What is shared parental leave?

Shared parental leave (SPL) gives parents a third option on how to care for their new baby in addition to maternity and paternity leave. Eligible parents who share responsibility for a child can take SPL in the first year after the birth of their child, adopting a child or getting a parental order for those who have a child through surrogacy.

The purpose of SPL is to give parents more flexibility in deciding how to best care for and bond with their child. All eligible employees have a statutory right to take SPL.

To be eligible for SPL and statutory shared parental pay, both parents must:

• Share responsibility for the child at birth
• Have been employed continuously by the same employer for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week prior to the baby’s due date
• Give their employer the correct notice, including a declaration that their partner meets the employment and income requirements that entitles them to SPL

How does shared parental leave work?

Eligible parents can get up to 50 weeks of shared parental leave. This is because the birth parent or primary adopter can take up to 52 weeks of statutory maternity or adoption leave, but must take a minimum of two weeks of leave after the birth or adoption. This leaves up to 50 weeks of leave to be shared between two parents.

For example, if a birth parent ends their maternity leave after 20 weeks and heads back to work, their partner could take shared parental leave for the remaining 32 weeks.

Another example is when both parents take shared parental leave evenly and are off at different times, meaning the new baby is in the care of at least one of the parents for the full 52 weeks.

Is shared parental leave paid?

Employees must meet the eligibility criteria set out above to receive statutory shared parental pay. This is currently paid at the flat rate of £184.03 a week, or 90% of your average earnings – whichever is lower.

If an employee wants to take SPL or shared parental pay, they need to reduce maternity leave and/or pay in order to create the SPL or shared parental pay.

For example, maternity leave/pay will need to be reduced by four months to create four months of shared parental leave/pay. It’s important to be mindful that this means the mother will need to go back to work earlier, so be sure that this is something they/you are ready to do.

Employees must give at least eight weeks’ notice to end their statutory maternity pay at a future date to enable them or their partner to take shared parental pay – this is called a curtailment notice.

The amount of shared parental pay available is calculated from the date noted in the curtailment notice. If the mother returns to work earlier than the date given, shared parental pay isn’t possible.

Benefits of shared parental leave

The extent of the benefit of SPL will differ from family to family, with the key perks being:

• More bonding time for the father
• Extra support for the mother, meaning they can recover quicker from birth

As an employer, a key benefit for supporting a simple transition to SPL is retaining talent, enticing the best talent to your business, and helping all employees feel supported during the tricky transition to parenthood or more children.

Best practices for employers

Like maternity and paternity leave, SPL is a statutory right for eligible employees. It’s important that employers are supportive of staff who want to follow this path, and this can be achieved by making the process for this clear in staff handbooks.

Let’s look at the process of SPL from an employer point of view.

1. Becoming aware of the pregnancy or adoption

When a notice to take maternity, adoption or paternity leave has been made by an employee, it’s a great idea for employers to arrange an informal chat to discuss the possibility of SPL. This creates an opportunity for employees considering it to ask questions and check their eligibility. Remember, it’s a great idea to be supportive and positive – as well as SPL being a statutory right, treating employees well helps with talent retention and engagement.

2. Receiving notice of SPL intention

Once an employer receives formal notice of SPL being taken, it’s time to set up another chat. It’s the perfect opportunity for the employer to get an idea of the type and pattern of leave an employee may be interested in taking and what changes they as the employer may need to make within teams to accommodate this.

3. Notification of leave booked

The notice of SPL being taken will note whether the employee will take a continuous block of leave or has requested a discontinuous block of leave. A notification for continuous leave can’t legally be refused by an employer, but discontinuous leave can – an example is if the employee wants to take short blocks of leave throughout a year.

If discontinuous leave is requested, the employer has 14 days to discuss the proposal with the employee and decide whether the request or a modified version can be agreed on.

Guidance for employees

It can be scary to ask for SPL – particularly for fathers, where there is unfortunately still a stigma in some work environments about taking time off to look after a new baby. However, it’s important to bear in mind that SPL is your statutory right if you are eligible, and it’s up to you how you decide to approach it.

It’s a good idea to have a rough idea of how you’d like to take SPL before having the first discussion with your employer. Chat to your partner about what will work best for you as a couple – perhaps the mother will take a short maternity leave and the father will take a long spell of leave, or maybe the mother will take 40 weeks of leave and the father 12 weeks. There is no one size fits all solution, so take some time to work out what works best for your family.

You can also share the leave by each taking shorter blocks of time off throughout the first year of the child’s life, but employers don’t have to agree to this.

Final thoughts

Shared parental leave is a brilliant opportunity for parents to share the load of caring for their baby in its first year. It’s a precious time in the parents’ lives, and the full support of employers will make this experience all the better.

From an employer point of view, be sure to set out your business process for SPL clearly in your staff handbook so employees know what steps to take and when. For employees, be mindful of what is involved with notifying your employer of your intention to take SPL and have a good idea of what that might look like as soon as possible.

Kirstie Pickering - business journalist

Kirstie is a freelance journalist writing in the tech, startup and business spaces for publications including Sifted, UKTN and Maddyness UK. She also works closely with agencies to develop content for their startup and scaleup clients.