SPL confusion

[choccychipcookies1988]

Hello my DH and I want to take SPL and split the stat pay of £180 PW

i would like to take 10.5months off work, DH then take 6 weeks SPL after so baby doesn’t go to nursery for a year

DH company will pay him full pay for his ) 6 weeks if he also is able to claim 6 weeks of my stay c£180PW. Fine by me - so I effectively need to give up six weeks of stat pay and instead of receiving 39 weeks of stat pay I receive 33 weeks.

but I’d like to stay on mat/ SPL leave until 10.5 months. Is this possible? my work are saying I have to go onto unpaid leave at 33 weeks (as opposed to being on Mat/Spl) which I’d prefer not to do

anyone have experience? Cant I just go onto
spl at 33 weeks?

Do they not mean you'll be on the unpaid part of your maternity leave as you will have finished up your paid leave period?

No they’re saying I wouldn’t be on any form of mat or spl but I could instead take unpaid leave if I wanted (a seperate policy). I don’t think that’s right

Would you accrue any annual leave while you're on SPL? If so, you might be able to take it at the end of the 33 weeks.

No they aren't right. You have up to 37 weeks pay and 50 weeks leave to share. You are foregoing 6 weeks of pay to let him take the pay offered by his employer. You then need to end your maternity leave 6 weeks early so he can take the 6 weeks leave instead.

https://maternityaction.org.uk/advice/shared-parental-leave-and-pay/#Reducing_maternity_leavepay_to_create_shared_parental_leavepay

Thanks I thought that was the case. I’ll see what they say. I guess it is quite confusing

They are wrong. Shared parental leave and shared parental pay are separate. You have 52 weeks leave to share and 39 weeks pay as you’ve said.

You can stay on maternity leave until returning to work on 0 pay. I did this last year.

This isn’t the right advice. OP you need to stay on maternity leave once the pay ends. Once you start on annual leave your mat leave will have ended.

Agree
there’s other benefits to being on Mat/SPL but receiving £0 pay as opposed to unpaid leave and also receiving £0 pay.
thanks everyone

Me and DP used SPL and it is confusing but my understanding is:

You have to end maternity leave before you can start shared parental leave (which you can both be on at the same time if necessary providing you don’t take more than 50 weeks in total)

If you want DH to have 6 weeks stat pay (for his employer to top up) you could end maternity leave at the end of week 33. At that point you could go on to shared parental leave (unpaid) until week 46. At week 47 you would return to work/take annual leave or unpaid parental leave and DH will start shared parental leave. He will receive the remaining 6 weeks of pay (plus the top up).

If you were to stay on maternity leave until week 46 then you would have received all 39 weeks of pay. Even if your employer instructs payroll to stop paying mat pay after week 33 I think it’s open to error.

I would opt to curtail mat leave after 33 weeks and start shared parental leave to retain 6 weeks of pay for DH. Did your employer say why you couldn’t do this? I’d be wary about their suggestion of you going on unpaid leave as an alternative as you get certain protections on parental leave that you wouldn’t get on unpaid leave. You also have the entitlement to Keep In Touch days etc.

Not what you were asking but be aware that your're eligible for more Keeping In Touch (KIT) days with shared parental leave than Maternity...no idea why but it's handy.

Thanks for writing this out so clearly and how you have written it out is exactly my understanding and intention to do

specifically your point “I’d be wary about their suggestion of you going on unpaid leave as an alternative as you get certain protections on parental leave that you wouldn’t get on unpaid leave. You also have the entitlement to Keep In Touch days etc” I agree with. Work didn’t set out what would happen to kit days and the other mat/SPL benefits I’d receive (ie they top up my pension conts for me if on Mat/spl) if I went onto unpaid leave. I have told them I wasn’t that impressed at them saying I have to go onto unpaid leave without bothering setting out any changes to benefits etc

work just said I was too late to amend my mat leave pay, but I don’t see that that is right as the government says you only need to give 8 weeks notice for SPL or shared parental leave pay

Completely agree. This is one of the reasons why I want to stay on spl/Mat leave even if not receiving any income regardless

I think there is a huge lack of understanding around SPL even from HR professionals! I just today put in notice for my next mat leave repeating exactly the same use of SPL I used last year and my HR department are now saying I can’t do it and that DH and I must work for the same employer which is obviously not true.

I think the bit that might be causing you issues is trying to create a gap between you using SMP paid weeks, and partner wanting the Stat ShPP paid weeks. My understanding is that the paid weeks need to be the first 39 weeks (or less if you use them in parallel).

That’s kind of a DHs employer issue rather than yours. You serve notice that you’re stopping Mat Leave, and transferring the final X weeks of leave to the ShPL pot. And then immediately start using some of that ShPL pot.

Have a look at some of tye stuff for teachers on maximising ShPL , it might help. Im not sure your plan quite works, but not for the reasons they say it doesn’t.

Thanks il check if that is causing the issue

Hi everyone thanks again for your help. Just confirming in case anyone else reads this thread in future,
or in case any of you are interested, that hr have confirmed the Correct position is as @cherryontopx sets out above. Thanks again everyone for taking the time to help

How can they possibly think this makes any kind o sense?! It would be so ridiculously restrictive