The Story
In 2015 the government launched Shared Parental Leave, which means you can share your time off once you’ve had a baby with your partner. We’re cheers-ing to that!
So how exactly does it work?
If you, as the new mum, finish your Statutory Maternity Leave or Maternity Allowance early then mum and dad can take the rest of the 52 weeks as Shared Parental Leave (SPL). Translation: You can transform your maternity leave into shared leave.
Example please!
Okay, say you finish your maternity leave after 12 weeks. The remaining 40 weeks can be used as Shared Parental Leave and shared between you and your partner.
Is it paid leave?
You or your partner – whoever is off work - will get £140 per week or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. This will be paid for 39 weeks minus the number of weeks already taken by mum for maternity pay. For example, if mum received 12 weeks of mat pay that leaves 27 weeks of pay to be shared.
MOXI Tip: You can take leave at different times or both at the same time! If you decide to double up you’ll both get paid but each week counts as two weeks instead of one. For example, say you have 26 weeks of shared parental pay, you could take 13 weeks together.
Sounds good. How do we sign up?
There are a few rules to cover first...OR use this handy maternity calculator, which only takes a few minutes to complete.
- As the mum, you must be eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay OR dad must be eligible for Statutory Paternity Pay and you eligible for Maternity Allowance.
- One of you has to have worked continuously with the same employer from 41 to 15 weeks before the baby’s due date AND has to stay with that same employer during the leave.
- The other of you must have been working for at least 26 weeks out of the 66 weeks before the baby’s due date and have earned at least £390 in total in 13 of the 66 weeks (you can add up the highest paying weeks, they don’t have to be in a row). This can be as an employee or a self-employed person.
Related Guide: Maternity Pay Need-to-Knows (Jargon Free)
That’s a lot of numbers to process. Anything else?
It’s compulsory that you take two weeks of maternity leave after giving birth. These two weeks can’t be shared, sorry! But dad often gets two weeks’ paternity leave so is off anyway (thank God for that, you’ll need the extra hands!)
Note: Dad can only start leave when mum has returned to work or given ‘binding notice’ (that’s a hefty word for a decision that can’t be changed) to her employer of the date when she plans to return. If mum gets maternity allowance, she must give notice to Jobcentre Plus.
You can check out all the rules of Shared Parental Pay on GOV.UK but we’ve pretty much covered the facts here!
