Shared parental pay vs enhanced maternity pay

[CiderDivaLime]

I am currently applying for Shared Parental Leave, with the hope that my husband can have 6 weeks leave at the same time as me, straight after his paternity leave. Shared parental leave is not common in my company and therefore my HR department are fairly inexperienced in terms of technicalities. I have been told today that if we take shared parental leave at that time, my enhanced maternity pay will be stopped and I will receive shared parental pay (c£172 a week) for those 6 weeks. From people’s experience, is this accurate, or a misunderstanding by HR?

That doesn't sound correct.

Shared parental leave essentially means between the 2 parents they can take 52 weeks in total. Payment would be in line with their individual employer's terms. There are some additional rules around ability to take it in blocks and SPLIT days etc.

For example if your employer offers 3 months full pay then SMP, if you're off in the first 3 months after your baby is born, it would be on full pay.

If your partner's employer offered 6 months full pay then SMP, then they would receive full pay for any time off they have in the first 6 months.

If however in the above scenario you had the first 3 and your partner had the next 6 months, you would get full pay, they would get full pay for 3 months (months 4-6 of the year post birth) then SMP equivalent for the remaining 3 months they took off.

Some people get a bit muddled thinking the full pay period can be anytime in the 12 months after birth but hopefully that helps?

That can be your workplace policy, yes. My work offer the same enhanced pay for SPL and maternity leave but they only changed it in the last few years. Until that point, if you converted to SPL then you forfeited the enhanced pay, which is absolutely rubbish. I guess they haven't really considered the possibility that you'd want to convert to SPL straight away to have the first few weeks/months of together.

It depends how you work it.

Legally ShPP can be statutory and SMP enhanced.

I think you can apply to have 46 weeks maternity leave & 33 weeks maternity pay and then opt for ShPL. Your partner can then take 6 weeks ShPL and ShPP. You may find it easier to have 26 weeks SML & SMP then switch to ShPL and ShPP and divide the 26 weeks ShPL 6:20 and the 13 weeks ShPP 6:7.

My advice is to fill in the ACAS template form number 2 I think https://www.acas.org.uk/shared-parental-leave-form-templates

Note your DH can take ShPL whilst you are on mat leave.

Just looked it up and yes this appears to be true. Apologies I've said the opposite above (I thought you did!).

You just have to give your employer a 'binding notice' for when you plan to end your mat leave.

Thank you! I’ll have a look into this and go back to HR tomorrow! I find the whole thing as clear as mud and nowhere seems to have clear information. I guess there are so many nuances to each person’s circumstances, but the complexity does make it offputting

I think they are wrong and that you can stay on your enhanced pay while your dh has his time off.

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

Do both parents need to take SPL?

No, the mother can stay on maternity leave/pay (or on Maternity Allowance), while the father/partner takes shared parental leave/pay. However, even if only one parent is going to take SPL e.g. the father/partner, both parents will need to meet the qualifying tests (see below).
If both parents meet the qualifying conditions and are entitled to take SPL/ShPP, they can both choose to take SPL/ShPP or they may decide that only one parent will take SPL/ShPP e.g. the mother may want to stay on maternity leave because she will benefit from a good workplace maternity policy while the father/partner takes SPL.

Note: in most cases the mother is better off staying on maternity leave but she will need to reduce her maternity leave/pay period to create shared parental leave for the father/partner to take. Maternity leave can only be taken in one block so if the mother needs to take leave in-between periods of work she may want to end her maternity leave and take blocks of SPL instead.