Shared parental pay is a way of sharing the entitlement to maternity pay or maternity allowance between the parents. To opt into shared parental pay, the mother must end her maternity pay or allowance early. Any untaken weeks of maternity pay or allowance can then be converted into shared parental pay. The mother must take a minimum of two weeks compulsory maternity pay or allowance. This is increased to four weeks for manual workers. This that you can take a maximum of 37 weeks shared parental pay or 35 weeks if the mother is a manual worker. Remember you must deduct the number of maternity pay taken before the baby is born as well as the maternity pay taken after the birth. Maternity pay here includes any weeks of occupational maternity pay which the mother takes. Note that any weeks on paternity pay are not deducted.
Example – couple take shared parental leave together and annual leave Steve is a civil servant. His partner, Chloe, is not. Chloe takes 2 weeks maternity leave after the baby is born and ends her maternity leave early to opt into shared parental leave. Chloe converts 50 weeks untaken maternity leave into 50 weeks shared parental leave. This means: 37 weeks untaken paid maternity leave are converted into 37 weeks paid shared parental leave, and 13 weeks unpaid maternity leave are converted into 13 weeks unpaid shared parental leave. Steve, the civil servant, would be entitled to 22 weeks shared parental leave at full pay (26 weeks entitlement – 2 weeks paid maternity leave). They decide Steve will take 15 weeks shared parental leave at full pay after his 2 weeks paternity leave. Chloe will also take 15 weeks paid shared parental leave after her 2 weeks paid maternity leave so they can be off together. They then take 4 annual leave. Steve returns to work and Chloe takes the remaining 20 weeks shared parental leave. She takes: 7 weeks paid shared parental leave, and 13 weeks unpaid shared parental leave. hloe 2 wks paid mat leave 15 wks paid SPL 4 wks annual leave 7 wks paid SPL 13 wks unpaid SPL teve 2 wks paternity 15 wks full pay SPL 4 wks annual leave
She does not have to end her maternity leave on the same date with each employer. However, the number of weeks of shared parental leave is calculated by deducting the highest number of weeks of maternity leave which the mother takes. Example – mother ends her maternity leave at the same time with both employers Example – mother ends her maternity at different times with her employers Rachel has two jobs and ends her maternity with both employers after 10 weeks. Rachel can convert 42 into shared parental leave (52 weeks - 10 weeks). Jessie has two jobs and 10 weeks maternity leave from her first job and 12 weeks maternity leave from her second job. Jessie can convert 40 weeks into shared parental leave (52 weeks - 12 weeks). If either you or your partner works part-time Shared parental leave is calculated in weeks. This will be the normal working week that applies to you. This means that if your working week is three days, your shared parental leave week will be the three days you normally work plus the two days you do not work. For shared parental pay, if you are entitled to the full pay element of shared parental pay, you will be paid your normal monthly salary.