10 Top Tips on Shared Parental Leave for Employees

1. Once you are aware of your or your partner’s pregnancy or adoption match check whether you are eligible to take Shared Parental Leave (SPL). See our factsheet on shared parental leave for eligibility requirements.

1. Consider what kind of leave pattern you and your partner are intending to take and which option will be most beneficial to your situation.

1. Check whether you or your partner has a contractual entitlement to enhanced maternity/adoption/paternity/SPL pay.

1. Consider whether the availability of other legal rights (such as flexible working requests, annual leave and parental leave) work better.

1. Check whether your employer has a Shared Parental Leave policy in order to ensure that both you and your employer are following the correct procedure.

1. Consider asking your employer to have an informal discussion to talk about your preferences at an early stage in order to prepare for a formal request. This can be a good opportunity to discuss what forms of leave patterns could be accommodated by your employer and what they are most likely to agree to.

1. When making requests ensure that you also consider how reliant you are on the proposed pattern your partner is seeking to agree. Where the care of the child is dependent on one or both parents agreeing discontinuous leave arrangements and one is refused, one or both parents may need to withdraw their notification and make new amended ones. This makes early discussion with your employer or HR all the more important.

1. Ensure that your notice of entitlement is submitted at least eight weeks before the intended period of SPL and that it includes all the required information.

1. Before any formal meeting to discuss SPL, consider what ways your employer could manage the impact of SPL and what arrangements could be made to make the leave as mutually beneficial as practicable.

1. If you employer refuses your request remember that you are entitled to make at least two more requests at any time before your child’s first birthday.

For more information about Shared Parental Leave and the right not to be subject to any detriments for taking SPL, contact us today on 01273 609911, or email info@ms-solicitors.co.uk.