Shared parental leave

[Howsyourfather]

Just a quick question as my HR as being totally unhelpful.

Am I correct in thinking that if my husband takes some time as shared parental leave (paid as shared parental pay), then this time simply gets deducted from the paid time I am able to take on maternity leave? So I’m entitled to have 39 weeks paid leave, but if my husband takes 8 weeks, then the paid time I can take goes down to 31 weeks?

Also (assuming the above is correct), can I then take my unpaid 12 weeks on top of this time?

Thanks for any advice - baby brain plus a lack of support from both our HR depts has left me with a foggy brain when trying to translate our polices and the govt guidance!!

Hi, you can share up to 50 weeks of leave, and up to 37 weeks of pay. Your plan has 39 weeks of paid leave between you.

I believe you can share up to 37 weeks of pay as you legally have to take two weeks of maternity pay as you can’t return to work within two weeks of giving birth

You have to 'curtail' your maternity leave, and the remainder is converted to Parental Leave (of which statutorily some is paid, some unpaid) that you can both take.

@Namechange13101

I believe you can share up to 37 weeks of pay as you legally have to take two weeks of maternity pay as you can’t return to work within two weeks of giving birth

This. I think.... we've done it three times and it's still something that confuses me! You have to take two weeks maternity before you can switch to SPL and that two weeks gets deducted from the total - if you are talking about the paid element then that's 39-2=37. Then you can split the 37 however you want. It's worth knowing that you can take SPL in blocks - not all at once - if you want. DH took 12 weeks with each of our children but with the last one he took 6 weeks after the birth then a further two chunks of time later on. It meant we were able to have a few weeks before I went back to work.