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Original poster

Shared parental leave disappointment

70 replies

Benzalkonium · 22/12/2015 01:28

Hi, just posting to see if anyone has experience of this and can tell me if it sounds righ or wrong, (and also to whine a bit)

We were hoping it might be possible for my partner to take the last few weeks of my maternity leave as shared parental leave. It looked like his employer offered a good deal for dads in the policy: 14 weeks on full pay. Hr have just told us that the full pay offer only applies to the first 14 weeks of my maternity leave.
We can't see where it says this in the policy.
What are other peoples experiences?

It's so unrealistic to think that I am going to offer my partner the first 14 weeks of my maternity leave! Why can't he have the last few weeks, when baby doesn't need my physical presence so much?

So disappointed. Sad

OP posts:
Original poster
Benzalkonium · 23/12/2015 12:57

Thurlow, thanks for the link. Yes it is clear. But it doesn't cover my situation.

My situation is that I get statutory minimum, ie smp for 39 weeks, and my partner gets 14 weeks on full pay followed by statutory minimu, the acas page does not outline how this situation works, because it is above the minimum legal requirements.

I have read the policy and it looks like he has an entitlement for 14 weeks on full pay. HR have said no, that the full pay only counts during the first 14 weeks of my maternity leave. But there is no mention of a trigger or starting point in his policy. I suspect that hr are interpreting his policy in that way, but I can't see where it says anything about a trigger point. So I'd like to know if some organizations who are already offering more than the minimum, and topping statutory up to full pay, also don't use a trigger point, and offer this full pay at any point during the first year.

Anyone?

OP posts:
Thurlow · 23/12/2015 13:06

Is that his firm's maternity policy, or his firm's shared parental leave policy?

LibrariesgaveusP0wer · 23/12/2015 13:17

Why haven't you asked them outright -"I can't see in the policy where it says it is the first 14 weeks of overall leave rather than the first 14 he has off. Can you explain? "

Fizrim · 23/12/2015 13:46

The OP has asked them, they have explained but for some reason she doesn't like the answer.

Easter, your partner could have taken paternity leave and got the enhanced benefits apart from the statutory two weeks you need to take off if you then returned to work. But you can't blame the firm you work for because they have a different scheme, it's your choice to work there and use it.

There is certainly some work to do on the difference between 'sharing' and 'combining'!

EasterRobin · 23/12/2015 15:01

Ah Libraries, no it appears to be me who missed a technicality of the change. It has now become possible for the man to take leave first followed by the woman (but it isn't possible under the older system that I fall under) and is generally much more flexible on timings.

Original poster
Benzalkonium · 23/12/2015 15:23

Thru low, this is their shared parental leave policy.

Libraries, yes I have asked them exactly that but they have gone silent on us.

So fizrim, it's not that I don't like their answer, it's that I read their policy and understood it one way, and they are now stating it means something different from what it appears to say.

OP posts:
Original poster
Benzalkonium · 23/12/2015 15:24

So I'd like to know if some organizations who are already offering more than the minimum, and topping statutory up to full pay, also don't use a trigger point, and offer this full pay at any point during the first year.

OP posts:
Thurlow · 23/12/2015 15:26

Do you know anyone else who works in HR or law who could have a look for you?

I'm happy to (I work in the legal field) but a friend who is in HR might be better.

LibrariesgaveusP0wer · 23/12/2015 16:49

Easter - Ah yes, that interim law was really particularly unsatisfactory. It had ridiculously low take up partly because it was so restrictive. I'm no fan of the Tories, but at least they did recognise and sort out that hash-up. DD2 fell under the old sharing system too. DS would have been the new one, but by then I was on a career break...

Tangoandcreditcards · 23/12/2015 17:48

benzal - I'm afraid I'm neither HR nor legal (so couldn't in good conscience review your policy), but the SPL policy fell under my remit as we're a small biz and one of the problems we discovered was a disparity between maternity leave start date and SPL start dates (i.e. birth date) in all the guidance.

To be fair, I only clocked it and cobbled together a clause in our own policy that brought them in line because I was making use of the policy for my own leave. None of our HR or legal advisers (including ACAS) pulled it out as a problem, even though our specific brief was that the ML & SPL policies should be identical for us. I'm not justifying your DH's employer's decision to publish an unclear policy, but I expect we are not the only employer to have come up against this stumbling block/inconsistency when putting together a policy (and as its only been in law since April, policies are probably untested by many employers). It may be that they just didn't know the answer because they haven't been asked it before and they're making it up as they go along. (Again, not OK, but I know how it happened).

This is one of the reasons I think that the current legislation, although a step forward from the previous one, is overly complex in places and should be PART OF, not separate to maternity legislation in order to actually do what it is supposed to do, which is actually incentivise greater equality of leave sharing.

And I understand why it's frustrating for you, as like a lot of people on this thread who have taken SPL under the last scheme and now this new one are guinea pigs to some extent - both for the legislation and new company policies. I know it's cold comfort, but hopefully the weight of feedback on this issue will be built in to the future policies to evolve something that is truly equal and discourages employers (especially those with a gender-bias) from carving out discriminatory "male" and "female" policies enabled by the different types of leave.

Original poster
Benzalkonium · 23/12/2015 21:45

Tango that's very interesting. Thank you for clarifying what your experience is. Do you think I can try to hold them to what their policy appears to say even if that is not how they are interpreting it, given that this is over and above the statutory?

Thurlow, yes I have thought of someone who I could ask, but unfortunatly they are a but busy at the moment (as are HR!).
Thanks for your input.

OP posts:
SaltySeaBird · 24/12/2015 07:45

Trills

Your partner takes off weeks 31-40
He gets paid what his company pays for weeks 31-40
Not what his company would pay for weeks 1-10. Because they are not weeks 1-10. They are weeks 31-40.*

This isn't the case though. This is what we desperately want.

My company offers SMP only. The maternity policy at DH's workplace offers 6 months full pay, followed by 3 months half pay.

My work hasn't got a history of being maternity friendly, I enjoy my job a lot and don't want to lose it as I'd struggle to find similar with a doable commute that was part time. If I take 6 months plus off I won't have a job to go back to (being realistic). DH's company bends over backwards to accommodate maternity leave and working mothers. He also doesn't really enjoy it and after 10 years is a bit burnt out at present.

I want to take weeks 1-6 off, which will be SMP at the 90%.

DH then wants to take four months off, effectively weeks 7-17. For females at his work place full pay continues until weeks 26 but he has been told that SPL is statutory only, right from week one.

We can't afford for him to be on statutory pay for four months so SPL is not an option for us. I have to choose between effectively keeping my job and putting a 6 week old into childcare instead, which really sucks.

Diddlydokey · 24/12/2015 07:49

You can take 52 weeks between you so he could take the first 14 weeks with you fully paid but you'd have to go back after 38 weeks. I'd do that as to have two sets of hands then would be amazing.

Tangoandcreditcards · 24/12/2015 10:46

In my experience.

I'm afraid probably not, as normally policy IS open to interpretation/amendment by an employer in a way that contractual benefits are not (especially when it exceeds statutory minimum).

However, if they are/want to be seen as a reasonable employer, they may be willing to open a dialogue about it. But from what you've said so far I suspect they have used your case to firm up the policy start date in a way that suits them (as is their right).

But it will depend on how the contract + benefits are structured in the contract. (thurlow will probably correct me if I'm wrong! )

Trills · 27/12/2015 18:13

That's rubbish of them Salty :(

You're right that what I was describing was the best-case scenario.

The OP was hoping for more than that even, she was hoping for her partner to be paid what is employer paid for weeks 1-14, when he would be taking weeks much later than that.

fidel1ne · 27/12/2015 18:18

That is odd/interesting. Is there any possibility that the first 14 weeks are offered at full pay with gay dads in mind?

VintageDresses · 27/12/2015 18:18

It's "shared" which means you get one lot of ml and the associated benefits between you, not two lots.

fidel1ne · 27/12/2015 18:22

But men can't lactate Vintage so it would be odd for a (heterosexual) male to take the first 14 weeks.

VintageDresses · 27/12/2015 18:25

That's a choice for the parents. The law might notice perfect but it allows for parents to share the leave, not double the burden on employers. The main benefit (and it's a big one) is that it allows fathers rather than mothers to take the unpaid portion of ml if that suits the family's circumstances.

VintageDresses · 27/12/2015 18:26

The first 14 weeks paid will be the same for mothers and fathers - That's the point!

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