Shared Parental Leave

[b0nnieN]

I don't know if this is the right thread for this but does anyone know how split parental leave work?

I'm planning to take 5 months maternity leave for work, then use 1 month worth of accrued holidays which totals to 6 months off. Technically after 5 months that would mean I would have returned to work and booked holidays for the next month. Does my OH have to start his statutory shared paternity pay after 5 months or can he start after 6 months when I fully return to work?

He can choose when he wants to take leave. He could even be off when you are if that's what you wanted

Hi! We're doing shared parental leave.

Parent no 1 (mother) MUST take the initial 2 weeks leave - thereafter the second parent (father) can start their leave at any point they chose AFTER parent 1 has formally returned to work, and up to the end of the valid term aka 50 weeks.

You cannot both be on SPL at the same time but you can be on annual leave and he on SPL if you wanted to be in the house at the same time for that crossover month.

So, he can start his leave whenever he likes after you have formally returned to work. He can start at 5 months, 6 months, or any other date you mutually decide up to the maximum end of SPL date of week 50.

You can also take SPL in more than one chunk (of min 2 weeks at a time) if you might prefer to return for a few weeks on, few weeks off, in rotation, for example.

Hope that helps x

You can be on shared leave at the same time so the above is wrong

Booking blocks of leave

You can book up to 3 separate blocks of Shared Parental Leave (SPL) instead of taking it all in one go, even if you are not sharing the leave with your partner.

If your partner is also eligible forSPL, you can take up to 3 blocks of leave each. You can take leave at different times or both at the same time

You must tell your employer about your plans for leave when youapply forSPL. You can change these plans later but you must give your employer at least 8 weeks’ notice before you want to begin a block of leave.

www.gov.uk/shared-parental-leave-and-pay/booking-blocks-of-leave

You absolutely CAN both be off on SPL. It just means that you're 'double counting' the leave, i.e. 2 people x 2 weeks leave for example, means 4 weeks taken from your available allowance

In order for the other parent to take shared leave the mother either needs to end maternity leave or give binding notice to end maternity leave/pay early. She doesnt need to be back at work for the other parent to be off on leave

I'm pretty sure he has to start his parental as soon as (or before) yours finishes, so you can't have a month of AL before his starts. This was definitely the case when we took shared parental leave 3 years ago. Parental leave has to be continuous regardless of who is on leave.

Is there any way you can take your leave first i.e. up to your due date or use it a couple of days a week? Alternatively you just have a month off together.

Read the links. He can choose when he takes it. It doesnt all have to be in one go.

(You can useSPLto take leave in blocks separated by periods of work, or take it all in one go. You can also choose to be off work together or to stagger the leave and pay*

If you are both off at the same time, as a poster above described, you will both be using up your allowance at the same time. Usually the allowance is 39 weeks of statutory shared parental pay, and up to 52 weeks of leave. Check the policies at your respective workplaces- if your employers offer an enhanced scheme for one or both of you, then it could affect how you plan to share the leave between you to maximise the benefits. Also, note that (unlike maternity leave), you can intersperse your (up to) 3 blocks of SPL with annual leave. So you could take a month of SPL, a month of annual leave, and a month of SPL. This may be relevant to you depending on your employers policy.

You can use SPLto take leave in blocks separated by periods of work, or take it all in one go. You can also choose to be off work together or to stagger the leave and pay

Thank you everyone for your insights - it was very much appreciated I feel much more prepared now xxx

How does it work with money on SPL? Does it depend on individual company policy?