Shared maternity/parental leave

[mrsbee2be]

Is is anyone on here planning to take shared parental leave that could help me get my head round it?! Or point me in the direction of some simple guides to it, all the ones we have read including that from DH's Hr depart. are really confusing me!

Situation we are in is I am due to start a new job on Monday, it'll be 14.5 weeks, due end Oct.. I think I'd like to take 5 months off and give the remaining to DH, I'm not quite understanding the employment test rules as I'm new a job also DH's work obliged to keep his job/shift patterns the same?

Any advice appreciated

Google maternity pay and go to the .gov website (can't link on my phone). You can put yours and DPs details in and it will tell you if you are entitled to shared leave etc and how it works.

You both have to be entitled and it isn't automatic- you need to meet certain criteria. But if you do, it's pretty simple- you get 2 weeks the mum HAS to take then 50 weeks that both parents can split, you can either take it together (e.g 6 months each at the same time) or straight after one another, e.g. you do 5months then the day you go back to work your husband starts his portion of the leave.

You can split it how you like but the moment you go back to work your entitlement ends and you can't then decide to go back on maternity leave and your husband go back to work.

Thanks, it the entitlement bit I'm worried about because I'll be new to the job & starting at 15weeks, I've said I'll look at reduced leave/shared maternity but now panicking I won't be entitled to it!

Thanks for the link the gov site, used the calculator & it's very Helpful!

Actually the gov.uk site says this about splitting your leave into blocks:

"Splitting blocks of leave
If your employer agrees, you can split blocks into shorter periods of at least a week.
Example
A mother finishes her maternity leave at the end of October and takes the rest of her leave as SPL. She shares it with her partner, who’s also eligible. They each take the whole of November as their first blocks of SPL. The partner then returns to work.
The mother also returns to work in December. She gives her employer notice that she’ll go on leave again in February - this is her second block of SPL. Her employer agrees to a work pattern of 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off during the block."

I think the key though is "if your employer agrees"! I can't imagine many employers would agree to you bouncing on and off leave like that.

Have a good look around online or contact citizens advice or charities that offer advice on this.

My son was born last November and I took 5 months off. We are now 3 weeks into shared parental leave and my partner loves it and I can ease back into work without worrying that my son is in a nursery.

Also if your partner has been in his job for 15 weeks before you conceived then he will be eligible for it

Watching with interest. I'm taking at least 3 months of maternity leave because I get enhanced pay during that time. Still figuring out how we want to share the rest of it. I think I'll return after about seven months off at the moment. Does anyone know when you have to tell your employer? Mine is still writing its SPL policy...

leon, with ML if you intend to return any earlier than your allowed 12 months then you have to give 8 weeks notice to your employer of your intended return date.

Op I doubt you'll be entitled, you need to have worked for the employer from just before you got pregnant. You need to check your rights. You may not be entitled to SMP either - have you considered that?

How does it work if one of you earns more than the other? Can the lower earner take the statutory maternity pay portion even for the first few weeks so the higher earner can take leave later at a higher rate of pay?

What if one employer has a more generous maternity/paternity policy?

It's the entitlement that confusing me.... I have heard back from my new employer to say I will be entitled to SMP, but confused as to how, I was under the impression I would have to apply for Maternity Allowance....
DH's work have said yes they are entitled to shared leave but need to check whether I am and I can't work it out.

I wouldn't be doing the chopping & changing but each of us, I can't see how that would work or be fair to either employer, (or how they'd agree) I just want to aim for 5/6 months for my the rest for DH.