News

Shared Parenal Leave

It is only a few weeks until parents-to-be with babies due to be born, or matched for adoption, on or after 5th April 2015 can start sharing up to 50 weeks of parental leave.

Under the new rules, an eligible mother can end her maternity/adoption leave early and, with the partner or the child's father, opt for Shared Parental Leave instead. If they both meet the qualifying requirements, they can choose how to share the remaining time off work.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has developed an online calculator  online calculator to help employees work out what their leave and pay entitlements are under the new rules.

The government estimates that 285,000 working couples a year will be eligible for Shared Parental Leave. It will be interesting to see how many do actually avail themselves of the new rights, given the poor uptake of additional paternity leave which in essence gave parents similar provisions.

With employees only having to give their employer eight week's written notice of the intended pattern of leave, it is imperative that employers think about resource planning, discussing with the employee their intentions from an early stage, as opposed to when the written request is received, in order to achieve the balance between managing business objectives and employees' rights.