Do you know what Shared Parental Leave is? Do you know what rights your employees have?
If you didn’t know, Shared Parental Leave began on 5th April 2015. New laws came into effect which mean that new mums will get the first two weeks off after they’ve given birth, but then they get the option of being able to share the remaining 50 weeks with their partners.
According to HR Review, less than half (40%) of employers feel like they have the correct system in place to support this new law.
Here’s some basic information on Shared Parental Leave (SPL), who’s eligible for it and facts you need to know.
Employees may be eligible for SPL and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (SSpP) if;
- their baby is due on or after 5th April 2015; or
- if they adopt a child on or after 5th April 2015.
If an employee is eligible by those two factors, then they are able to take the shared leave in blocks separated from work, instead of taking it all at once.
If the employee wants to take SPL then they must end their maternity leave for it to be replaced by SPL and their maternity allowance to be replaced by SSpP. If the mother of the child isn’t eligible for maternity leave, then their partner may still be eligible for SPL at their workplace.
SPL is available to partners who are adopting a child but they must end their adoption leave and pay to be replaced by SPL and SSpP.
An example of SPL would be a mother and her partner are both eligible for SPL so the mother ends her maternity leave after 10 weeks, leaving 42 available for SPL. The parents of the child can then choose how to split up that time between them.
The SPL must be taken between the baby’s birth and first birthday.
If you have any queries about SPL, what you are entitled to and want to help, then contact us today on 01909 512 120 or email Phillipa.