Shared Parental Leave help

[VictoriaMyatt]

Hi All,

Im new here and apologies if this is in the wrong category....

I am currently almost 24 weeks pregnant and am in talks with my employer regarding my maternity leave, my partner would like some time off under SPL

The issue is its starting to make me quite anxious and i often get teary about it, this will be our first child and im not sure i like the idea of having to leave my baby so early to come back to work...

I guess im just after some advice and guidance as i dont really get the Shared Parental Leave standard government policy, can we both claim shared parental leave pay?
If i take 6 weeks and then drop down to SPL my partners time gets cut by 6 weeks but does any pay get cut too?

• I get the normal 6 weeks at 90% from my employer and then drop down to Stat Mat pay and then down to nothing for 13 weeks

My partner has stated he would like to take advantage of his full pay for 26 weeks from his employer which is fine but ultimately it means that for us to benefit financially I would need to come back to work

You would need to cut your maternity leave by the amount of time he wants to take. For him to take 26 weeks would mean you have to give up 26 weeks of your leave. You can just stay on maternity pay rather than shared parental pay (I think).

maternityaction.org.uk/advice/shared-parental-leave-and-pay/

You get 52 weeks between you. If you don't want to go back to work when, realistically, dc is under 6 months old then just don't give up so much of your maternity leave. Sounds like this is a conversation you need to be having with dp. You can be off at the same time but that means both going back to work sooner and lo being in childcare sooner hope you get sorted x

I know a few people who have done shared paternity. It works well. They did mum off for 6 months and then dad takes over for 3/4 months. It's a lovely bonding experience for baby and dad.