Shared Parental Leave and Parental Leave – what do you think and know? Chance to win £100! NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

As part of the Mumsnet Family Friendly Programme we'd love to know what you think about these new employee benefits which have been introduced in the last few years.

You can read about them below - please share on this thread your experience of them and your thoughts on them. Have you taken them up? Do you think you would? Have you heard of Parental Leave? How do you think employers feel about them? Has your employer promoted them to you/ employees? Has your partners company promoted them?

All comments welcome!

Shared Parental Leave - this is for new parents and is designed to give greater flexibility around the first year with a new baby
Government info here
ACAS guide here

Parental Leave - this is unpaid leave for parents to take care of a child's welfare - employees are entitled to 18 weeks’ leave for each child and adopted child, up to their 18th birthday with their job protected
Government info here
ACAS guide here

Both are obviously subject to specific terms.

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Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

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I work in the public sector and was offered both by my HR advisor when I was discussing my maternity leave. My DH wasn't eligible for Shared PL as he hadn't worked at his place long enough to qualify. I also intend to breastfeed till 12 months + which puts a spanner in the works.

I think PL Is going to come in handy for chicken pox etc as and when that strikes. And other emergency leave requirements. It's brilliant we now have SPL but it does put exclusive breastfeeders at a disadvantage because you can't share breasts!

Friends who had a baby recently are using shared parental leave to have the first 6 weeks off together. I think it's a great option to have if it works for your family in whatever way, but I'm too keen on my maternity leave to want to share it! My daughter was an awful sleeper and EBF so sharing that load was difficult as feeding was the only way to get her back to sleep. I think I'd've struggled going back to work earlier having shared the leave - my brain just didn't function for much of that year.

My husband seems to think that parental leave is a way to take unpaid holiday! Whether he'll take advantage of this remains to be seen - he may discover we need to use it for practical reasons like covering childcare across the summer holidays in years to come. Mind you, I haven't looked into how and when you're allowed to take it.

In my opinion, I think shared parental leave is a great idea. However, I wasn't willing to share my maternity leave! I was scared about what I might come home to..

Shared parental leave is a good addition and was brought in just a little too late for DH and I, as otherwise we may well have used it. Only problem is that with breastfeeding I'd have done the tricky first 6 months and he'd have had the more enjoyable later slot! But not much that can be done about that.

Unpaid parental leave is unlikely to be helpful as we simply can't afford to take time off unpaid and I doubt either of our works would be happy about us being off anyway.

At a previous company everyone got three days of emergency leave per year on full pay, which was a brilliant idea and helped not only with childcare emergencies, but also situations like burst radiators, break ins, etc. Meant that it was one less thing to worry about in an already stressful situation - you just called in like a sick day then got working on resolving the problem.

This only works if you are financially stable. I know plenty of stay at home dads as the mother earns more money. It is good that with this day and age that families now have options that suit the family not the societies idea of family life.

I think it is a good idea. It gives parents a choice.

Shared parental leave has been great for us. DH had took 6 wks of the SPL when DC2 was born. It was a massive help taking the pressure off juggling toddler and settling in BFing new baby in those first few wks and I think really helped us learn how to manage with two better! I went back to work at 9mo - as the higher earner it made sense for me to return to work and get paid and he to take the unpaid time off. He's in the last couple of wks now of SPL. Although we've always been 'equal partners' in the home dept it's still been quite an eye opener for him but he's loving it.

Although this sounds great on the surface as it is unpaid most people would never be able to take advantage as someone has got to put food on the table and bills paid so i think it is better to just do as normal and one looks after baby and one works depending on what the family decide between themselves

Both are a good idea - though we have not used either.
Shared Parental Leave provides more recognition of shared parenting arrangements and recognizes that in some instances it could be beneficial for some families for the mother to work (for example if she is more highly paid) and for the father to stay at home.
Parental leave also allows for a parent to have extended leave to care for a child without losing employment.

I think it's a great idea in principle and for some couples it will be great. However I don't ever see men taking it up in any great numbers.

I think it's a positive step in terms of gender equality and promoting choice. However, regardless of the legal position and the outward reflection the reality remains that in a lot of professions, taking time out to have a family is seen as an (unspoken) failing. I work in a business that prides itself on its predominantly female "senior leadership team" however, without exception, no person in that team has ever taken time out to have a family and as soon as anyone does, they are considered less committed. (My boss scheduled a cesarean around work commitments and took 3 weeks off after giving birth, but still answered emails, even on the day of delivery). I suspect that the reality for many couples (myself included) is that by both parents taking an extended period out, it means the career of both will be compromised (rather than the opposite) and so many couples just won't sign up. I know from my personal experience, I wouldn't for that reason.

I think shared parental leave is a fantastic idea if that's what parents want. I'm amazed it's taken so long to come in though!
Parental leave to cover leave for attending to a child's welfare is great too. Helps to take away the worry of work while in stressful and potentially upsetting periods.

Great to see there is more choice for famillies, although I can't see many dads taking part in this!

more choices are always a good thing, there were few when I had my DCs, limited maternity leave and no paternity leave, however it is not feasible for the majority of couples to be able to afford to take unpaid leave. My employer offers flexi-time which is a help when you need time off.

Parental leave should be for the mummy as most of the work falls to her

I like the idea of both but in my work, it would be almost impossible to take weeks at a time with my job!

Its important dad's get the chance to spend time with a new born child. However he still needs the stability to get back to work without jepodising his career. Also works fior mums as well

I think it is a good idea. Fathers need time with their new family just as much as mums do.

The parental leave seems like a good idea, I'm not sure how employers will feel, but it sounds reasonable to me

It's probably unaffordable for most, but a nice idea

I think it's great for families to have more choice, but I do worry that some Mums might feel pressured into going back to work earlier than they would like to, in order to let their partner "have their turn".

I can't imagine anyone not being in favour of this from the parents point of view - I am myself, I think it's wonderful that employers have to be so flexible. I'm an employee, but I do have friends with small businesses, and I know they worry about the new entitlements. With the increased minimum wage, new pension schemes, and this, it seems there is more and more potential expense being placed upon small employers lately.

think the new plans are good. all help is needed. How am i meant to work if im not given the resources I need. They dont want me to be a say at home mum but I can only work if they allow me to work around my priority; my child x

Agree with both, but unpaid leave is something I couldn't afford to do for the allowed period.

i think its a good idea. I also think paternity leave for men should be longer and higher pay. My partner couldnt afford to take more than 3 days off when my son was born! x

I'm on shared parental leave at the moment ; my partner has taken two non-consecutive one month long periods, both of which run concurrently with my one consecutive ten month period (I.e.the remainder of the entitlement after his eight weeks have been subtracted).

Financially we were in a position to afford to take time off together. Had one of us had to work, he wouldn't have taken it. So it's a privilege, in that sense.

Administratively, he works in a large company renowned for taking good care of its staff. He has told me that the process was smooth, managers were supportive, and he had plenty of positive (envious!) comments from colleagues. In my case, I work for a very small company with no formal HR. That meant working out the rules and creating appropriate forms etc. myself,and I found the ACAS guide most helpful. Since I was taking one period of consecutive leave, getting approval wasn't difficult. However, had I wished to take non-consecutive periods, and shift between working and being at home, my employer would have found cover challenging to arrange.

In terms of the experience, it's been great. We've had time together as a family, our DD has spent a lot more time with daddy, etc. So all positive.

However, we've been lucky with several factors: financial security, understanding employers. If we were both working in small companies, for example, it may have been more challenging. We hope to make use of SPL again for any future children.