Query on shared parental leave

[Babiesandboardgames]

Hello
My husband and I have one baby and we took the full year of maternity leave (I had 9 months, he had the last 3)
We are now considering baby no 2. I want to go back to work more quickly and he wants to have more time off.
Here is my dilemma.
My husband recently started a new job, a lot less money than he's currently on, but after 2 years gets a big salary bump. His maternity package at work is decent but because his pay is lower, we are wondering whether we should delay it.
The question is for how long?
If I have the baby the day he passes out in a higher salary, does he get the higher salary maternity pay?
Or do I have to wait another six months or so for the increased pay to "filter through" to maternity?
I have tried the maternity action website and I've looked at his policy but it isn't all that obvious to me how it works. Anyone who has insight on this, your view would be greatly appreciated
Thank you

He needs to look at the shared parental leave package as it could differ from the maternity policy

I would ask him to speak with his HR department if there is one. It is all a bit of a minefield and I wouldn't make any assumptions based on anything other than their advice. I think in many places maternity/paternity pay is based on your salary between certain weeks of pregnancy so you may need to wait until he has been in the post for a while already. Hope you manage to work it out.

Thank you for your advice. I was hoping not to ask hr in case it affects his probation, but I guess its a complicated subject :)

I'm not sure of his policy but I remember reading on here that for women who have a variable salary because of shifts, overtime etc there is a six week period towards the middle of their pregnancy which is the qualifying period and it's the salary they earn in that period which is taken into account when calculating mat leave pay. Not sure whether it would be similar in your DH's case.

We won't know what his shared parental leave policies are though as they can differ between companies. They may offer basic pay or enhanced pay. And just because maternity pay might be enhanced doesn't mean shared parental pay is enhanced too.

And yes, statutory maternity pay is based on salary in weeks 17-25 of pregnancy.

I can understand not wanting to ask but he should be able to have the conversation confidentially. Might be worth him putting that in his email to make it clear! It is too complicated to go with anything other than their advice I would suggest.