Statutory Shared Parental Leave & Statutory Shared Parental Pay

Shared Parental leave and Shared Parental Pay were originally introduced in 2015 and from recent studies, there has only been a small percentage of employees who are eligible have actually taken up the leave.

The government’s “Share the Joy” awareness campaign will be picking up speed in the coming months to try and turn this around, and so employers will need to be more aware of Statutory Shared Parental Leave and Statutory Shared Parental Pay to answer any employee queries as a result.

Key Facts:

• An employee can share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay
• The shared pay and leave needs to be taken in the first year after your child is born or placed with your family
• The shared parental leave can be taken in blocks or all in one go.
• The employees can be off work together or they can stagger the leave and pay
• There are criteria’s the employee’s must meet to be eligible for shared parental leave and pay. The criteria for birth parents and adoptive parents are different.

We would recommend that employers have this information at their fingertips and support employees to make the informed choice which is best for them to help support employee engagement levels.

If you require any further information in order to support employees or have any questions regarding the above, please contact lauren.hamilton@aab.uk or your usual AAB contact.