Maternity leave pay help please

[WalrusWife]

I’m entitled to 26 weeks occupational pay, then 15 weeks SMP then the remainder unpaid.

DH is interested in shared parental leave. He too is entitled to 26 week paid leave.

I understand that in total we are entitled to 39 weeks of paid leave but am I right in thinking that the 26 weeks of full pay has to be divided between us? So I can’t take 19 weeks full pay and then he takes 26 weeks of full pay?

Correct, its shared otherwise everyone would be doing it!

If I had SMP pay though could DH still take his paid leave as long as between us, the occupational pay doesn’t exceed the 26 weeks?

For example: I have 19 weeks SMP then he has 20 weeks of occupational pay.

Hi, I had to ask a lot of questions to understand this as my partner and I nearly did this. My situation is I get full pay for 6 months and then move down to smp till week 39.

If we split - say I work the first 6 months and then he does the 2nd six month. I get my 6 months full pay and then he gets smp for the next period. - does that make sense?

Now if we had done:
I am off 4 months, he does 8 months:
I get full pay for 4 months, then he gets the equivalent of his company's maternity pay. So if they only offered smp (I.e no advanced scheme) - then it was straight down to smp.

The terms and conditions your employer set for their occupational enhanced pay, and any set by your DH's employer for their enhancements, are entirely a matter for them. We can't advise on that.

With the statutory shared parental pay, you get a total of 39 weeks between you. At least two must be used by the mother, post-birth, the rest can be used how you wish.

Just to add to it, I was entirely sure I am entitled to full pay as I’ve not been there long enough? But HR said I am after I queried it.

@WalrusWife

If I had SMP pay though could DH still take his paid leave as long as between us, the occupational pay doesn’t exceed the 26 weeks?

For example: I have 19 weeks SMP then he has 20 weeks of occupational pay.

Yes but what you may need to do is stop maternity pay and move to Shared Parental Leave. So you take SHPP and your DH takes Occupational pay.

Unlike maternity pay you can break shared parental pay into blocks. You can also take it at the same time.i.e. Both have the first month off together. This way you can specify who has the occupational pay. If you stay on maternity you can't pass over the occupational pay.

So you could take 6 weeks occupational maternity (2weeks must be after birth) then opt for statutory shared parental pay (13 weeks) then your DH could have 20 weeks occupational shared parental pay. You could take your 13 weeks after your DH has his leave or at the same time.

Thanks for the replies. I’m finding it really hard to get my head around this!

I take 18 weeks of occupational paid leave.
DH takes 8 weeks of occupational paid leave.
I take my 13 weeks off on SMP running alongside and over DH’s leave.

So that’s 39 weeks of paid leave used up, leaving me with 13 weeks unpaid left? (52 weeks - 39 weeks)