Shared parental leave gives more choice in how 2 parents can care for their child.
Eligible parents who share responsibility for a child can get shared parental leave in the year after:
- the birth of their child
- adopting a child
- getting a parental order if they had the child through surrogacy
Shared parental pay is also available for parents who are eligible.
Ways parents can use shared parental leave
Ways eligible parents could use shared parental leave include:
- the birth parent or primary adopter returns to work early from maternity or adoption leave and takes shared parental leave at a later date
- the birth parent or primary adopter returns to work early and their partner takes shared parental leave
- both parents are off at the same time
- both parents split shared parental leave evenly and are off at different times
- both parents return to work at the same time and take shared parental leave at a later date
- the partner takes shared parental leave followed by paternity leave
How much shared parental leave a parent can get
Eligible parents can get up to 50 weeks of shared parental leave between them.
How much shared parental leave they get depends on:
- how much maternity leave a mother or birth parent has taken
- how much adoption leave a primary adopter has taken
The birth parent or primary adopter can take up to 52 weeks of statutory maternity or adoption leave. They must take a minimum of 2 weeks' leave after the birth or adoption (4 weeks if they work in a factory).
After this they can end their leave and share the remaining leave with the other parent. This leaves up to 50 weeks of leave to be shared.
It's the same amount even if the parents have:
- more than one baby, for example twins
- more than one child in the same adoption placement
If the birth parent or primary adopter is not entitled to maternity or adoption leave
They will not be eligible to take shared parental leave themselves. However, if they're getting maternity pay, adoption pay or maternity allowance, they can end it early. This creates shared parental leave or shared parental pay for the other parent if they are eligible.
Protection under the law
The terms and conditions of an employee's contract still apply during their shared parental leave. This is except for their employee's usual salary and other payments.
Anyone taking shared parental leave is protected by law against:
- detriment
- unfair dismissal
Protection from detriment
An employer must not cause an employee 'detriment' for taking, or planning to take, shared parental leave.
Detriment means someone experiences one or both of the following:
- being treated worse than before
- having their situation made worse
Examples of detriment could be:
- they experience bullying
- they experience harassment
- the employer turns down their training requests without good reason
- they are overlooked for promotions or development opportunities
- their employer reduces their hours without good reason
If an employee believes they've experienced detriment because of shared parental leave, they should talk with their employer.
If this is not possible or it does not resolve the problem, they can raise a grievance. This is where they make a formal complaint to their employer.
If the problem is still not resolved, they could make a claim to an employment tribunal.
Protection from unfair dismissal
Employees are protected against unfair dismissal related to shared parental leave.
Planning to take or being on shared parental leave is never a valid reason to dismiss someone. If an employee is dismissed because they are on shared parental leave it is 'automatically unfair'.
An employee can make a claim for automatically unfair dismissal regardless of how long they've worked for their employer. If an employer dismisses an employee who is on shared parental leave, they must give them the reasons in writing.