Shared parental leave? Help so confused

[journeytomama]

so I would like to take 7 months maternity and then my husband take 2 months once I return to work. Would I still get my enhanced maternity package from my employers for the 7 months? Does anyone even know if this is possible to do on shared parental leave? Tia xx

Yes you will. Maternity leave is completely independent of shared parental leave, but you have to terminate your maternity leave in order for your partner to start shared parental leave. We're doing something very similar: 6 months maternity for me, followed by 6 months shared parental leave for my husband.

As pink said - you take maternity leave, and then when you go back to work your maternity leave ends, and you switch to shared parental leave, which your partner takes. You can then if you wish take more leave yourself once he goes back to work, up to 52 weeks (though not all of it is paid).

For example, i took 4 months maternity (enhanced) then DH took 5 months shared parental (stat) and i took the final 3 months shared parental (stat and unpaid) before she turned one.

I also lit into my company for only providing enhanced pay for mat leave, as it massively disadvantages dads who want to take time with their babies. Policy has now changed.