Question about Shared Parental Leave - please help!

[green33]

Is there a way of making it clear to my employer that it is the final month of my year-long maternity leave that I want to donate to my DH?

We want my enhanced pay period, statutory pay period, and the two months of the unpaid period to continue as normal, then DH will take an unpaid month off at the same time as me at some point along the way.

My work seem confused about how it works and are asking if I want DH to receive the statutory pay - no I don’t! I literally just want to take the final month of mine and give it to him.

What’s the easiest way to make this clear?

HR person here.

I'd break it down for them;
"Pay;
I wish to use all 39 weeks of available pay

Leave;
I wish to use 48 weeks of leave and give the remaining 4 to my husband. Understanding this will curtail my maternity leave by 4 weeks my return to work date will be X"

Thank you! The ACAS forms seem to make it very convoluted.

Curve ball! DH has just said he may be entitled to enhanced pay.

I have six months’ enhanced pay before dropping to statutory pay for 13 weeks.

So…. Let’s say I don’t donate four weeks of unpaid leave but instead I donate him four weeks of my statutory pay and leave.

Could he take some of that time during the first six months, and for that time, I would continue to receive my enhanced pay, but he would receive his enhanced pay as well?

Very grateful for your thoughts if you see this @LostGhost!

That's exactly how it works.

My advice would be to get hold of the policies around pay for both jobs, then start looking at the examples in the government guidance.

Combine it with annual leave on both sides and you can really maximise the time off, IE if mum switches the last month off to annual leave then that frees up a month of enhanced pay for dad to take at the start.

It is complicated, but it's well worth taking the time to understand it, we were very pleased with how it worked for us as a family.

The best thing to do is a table, Excel is great. Six columns,
Column 1 - Weeks Start at week 1 and list to 52.
Column 2 - Actual dates (Monday of each week)
Column 3 - Your SML or ShPL
Column 4- Your SMP or ShPP
Column 5 - DH Paternity Leave or ShPL
Column 6 - DH ShPP

This way clearly illustrates when you are on leave, the type of leave, the type of pay etc. Add in Annual Leave and Work.

So long as you give "binding notice" to end your maternity leave at a set point in the future, you can be on maternity leave whilst he is on shared parental pay.
That said, my partner had to take his enhanced period of pay BEFORE he took shared leave. So it is worth reviewing policies for both organisations to ensure that you understand the rules and don't lose out given enhanced pay is outside of the regulations around shared parental leave.

That said, my partner had to take his enhanced period of pay BEFORE he took shared leave. So it is worth reviewing policies for both organisations to ensure that you understand the rules and don't lose out given enhanced pay is outside of the regulations around shared parental leave.

This is what I’m worried about. I’ve asked my company about it twice in an email but they don’t seem to understand; they’re not addressing the question I’m asking.

HR have now replied:

Your husband cannot take the shared parental leave whilst you are receiving occupational maternity pay. He would need to ask his employer for Paternity leave. He can only take the SPL from the final 26 weeks of your maternity period

This isn’t right - I’m sure he can take it at any time after the first two weeks of my maternity leave?

In a previous email, they put

if you have taken 22 weeks of Maternity Leave and Statutory Maternity Pay, you can share 30 weeks of SPL and 17 weeks of ShPP with your husband.

Now, they’re saying we can only share 26 weeks? Quite literally, none of it is adding up.

The government guidance is very clear -
You can share 50 weeks.
It can start so long as you have given binding notice for your maternity leave to end at a date in the future.
https://www.gov.uk/shared-parental-leave-and-pay

Do they not have the policies written down anywhere for how it works?

If you take 26 weeks of enhanced maternity pay, that does only leave 26 weeks of maternity leave you can share. But he can take this at the same time as you are still on maternity pay, so long as you give binding notice that you will give it up.

I should add, it also only leaves 13 weeks of maternity pay that can be given up also, as you have taken 26 of them.

They only have a draft policy that they sent me, it says nothing about SPL not being able to be taken while I’m receiving OMP. I’ve asked them to show me where it says it’s not possible…!

So, the implication of what they’re saying is that if DH and I put in notice today of him taking SPL in January (which is within the first 26 weeks), is that they either won’t allow it, or, I will lose my occupational maternity pay for those two weeks? Which we absolutely could not afford. It’s making me think that we just don’t bother doing it. It’s so frustrating.

Yes you are right re the 2 weeks but you do need to curtail your maternity leave for him to receive the shared parental leave and
pay

That’s for the leave

the pay has separate rules

I’m sure it was made so confusing on purpose to stop people taking it

You're right, it does say maternity pay must end for your partner to get shared parental leave. Its further down the same page.
But then it says you can started ShPP whilst still on maternity pay - even on the one page it is confusing.

Yes - I’ll curtail my leave by a few weeks, so go back to work earlier. He’ll then take those weeks and be off work alongside me for a few weeks.

It should be so straightforward but clearly if even HR don’t understand it then I don’t know what hope we have of doing it!

https://maternityaction.org.uk/advice/shared-parental-leave-and-pay/#:~:text=The%20shared%20parental%20leave%20and,a%20year%20from%20the%20birth.

This is also a good explanation. You can take maternity pay at the same time as ShPP, but your employer can disallow enhanced maternity pay at the same time if this is their policy.

Thank you.

Unfortunately, HR haven’t got back to me. I asked for information on the policy, and reiterated that in order to take the leave when we want DH to, we need to submit notice by this Sunday.

So now we simply don’t know what to do. Whether to submit the notice and gamble that I won’t receive the pay, or not!

I’m deeply disappointed in my (public sector) employer.

Also - as per that link, an employer can choose to withdraw enhanced pay…

but…

HR said that he wasn’t allowed to take the leave at all within the first 26 weeks, which is simply wrong! It’s so frustrating.

@green33 are either of you Civil Service?

The advice your HR department are giving you is completely incorrect. I'd tell them that they need to escalate it to someone who knows what they're talking about or you'll be raising a grievance.