Contents
-
Page 3
-
Page 4
-
Page 5
-
Page 6
-
Page 7
-
Page 8
-
Page 9
-
Page 11
Introduction
What is Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Shared Parental Pay (ShPP)?
Shared Parental Leave enables eligible parents to choose how to share the care of their child during the first year of birth or adoption. It applies to babies born or children placed for adoption on or after 5 April 2015.
Its purpose is to give parents more flexibility in considering how to best care for, and bond with, their child. All eligible employees have a statutory right to take Shared Parental Leave. There may also be an entitlement to some Shared Parental Pay.
This policy sets out the statutory rights and responsibilities of employees who wish to take statutory Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP).
Torbay Council recognises that, from time to time, employees may have questions or concerns relating to their shared parental rights. It is the Council’s policy to encourage open discussion with employees to ensure that questions and problems can be resolved as quickly as possible. As the shared parental leave provisions are complex, if an employee wishes to take shared parental leave, he/she should clarify the relevant procedures with Human Resources at the earliest opportunity to ensure that they are followed correctly.
Managers are advised to contact Human Resources to discuss any request for Shared Parental Leave and/or on receipt of any formal notification or request.
Scope
This policy applies to employees of Torbay Council, whether they are the mother or the partner. If it is the mother who is employed by the Council, her partner must (where relevant) submit any notifications to take shared parental leave set out in this policy to his/her own employer, which may have its own shared parental leave policy in place, if he/she wants to take a period of shared parental leave.
Similarly, if it is the partner who is employed by the Council, the mother must (where relevant) submit any notifications to take shared parental leave to her own employer.
Entitlement and Eligibility
Entitlement to Shared Parental Leave and Pay
The amount of shared parental leave to which an individual is entitled will depend on when the mother brings her maternity leave period to an end and the amount of leave that the other parent takes in respect of the child.
Eligible parents will potentially be able to share a maximum of 50 weeks leave and 39 weeks statutory pay for the purpose of caring for a child within the first year of the child’s life or in the year after the child is placed for adoption.
Shared parental leave cannot be taken until after the birth/placing of the child and only applies to babies born or children placed on or after 5 April 2015.
Partners do not have to work for Torbay Council but they must satisfy minimum employment and earnings criteria, which are as follows:-
- have been employed or been a self-employed earner in at least 26 of the 66 weeks immediately preceding the expected week of childbirth;
- have average weekly earnings of at least the maternity allowance threshold for any 13 of those 66 weeks; and
- have, at the date of the child's birth, the main responsibility, apart from the mother, for the care of the child.
The partner’s employer will need to be able to confirm this in order for them to be eligible to take SPL.
Torbay Council’s Payroll department will confirm to Council employees their eligibility to SPL and ShPP in writing once they have submitted their request and notice of intention.
Who is eligible for Shared Parental Leave (SPL)?
To qualify for shared parental leave the employee must:-
- be the child’s mother or primary adopter;
- be the biological father of the child; or
- be the mothers husband, or partner (including same sex relationships) or civil partner, or be the husband or partner (including same sex relationships) of the primary adopter; and
- have 26 weeks continuous service with Torbay Council 15 weeks before the expected week of childbirth; or being notified of being matched with an adoptive chil
Both parents must share the main responsibility for the care of the child at the time of the birth/placement for adoption.
How can Shared Parental Leave be taken?
ShPL must be taken in complete weeks, it can be taken:
- as one continuous block; or
- in multiples of complete wee
ShPL must be taken in blocks of at least one week and must be taken within 52 weeks of the birth or adoption.
Provided that both parents qualify for ShPL the leave can be taken at the same time by both parents or separately.
Up to three periods of ShPL leave can be taken per pregnancy or adoption.
Who is eligible for Shared Parental Pay (ShPP)?
For employees to be eligible for statutory shared parental pay, both parents must meet certain eligibility requirements.
The mother is eligible for statutory shared parental pay if she:
- has at least 26 weeks' continuous employment ending with the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth and remains in continuous employment with her employer until the week before any period of shared parental pay that she gets;
- has normal weekly earnings for a period of eight weeks ending with the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth of at least the lower earnings limit for national insurance contribution purposes;
- has, at the date of the child's birth, the main responsibility, apart from the partner, for the care of the child;
- is absent from work and intends to care for the child during each week in which she receives statutory shared parental pay; and
- is entitled to statutory maternity pay in respect of the child, but the maternity pay period has been reduced.
In addition, for the mother to be eligible for statutory shared parental pay, the partner must:
- have been employed or been a self-employed earner during at least 26 of the 66 weeks immediately preceding the expected week of childbirth;
- have, at the date of the child's birth, the main responsibility, apart from the mother, for the care of the child; and
- have average weekly earnings of at least the maternity allowance threshold for any 13 of those 66 weeks.
Calculating Shared Parental Leave
The Government have produced an online calculator for assessing individual entitlements to Maternity, Paternity and Shared Parental Leave and Pay. This will give an indication of statutory benefits and rights based on an individual’s circumstances, see link below for further details:
Conditions of Employment
Terms and Conditions
During a period of shared parental leave employees will be entitled to the same terms and conditions that would have applied had they not taken the leave, with the exception of remuneration (pay).
All shared parental leave will be:
- Pensionable*;
- Reckonable for incremental pay; and
- Included in any probationary period.
*For Local Government Pension Scheme members periods of unpaid leave will not be treated as pensionable and will reduce the amount of pension earned during the year. Employees can, however, choose to pay Additional Pension Contributions (APC) to buy the ‘lost’ pension. Employees can elect to pay an APC within 30 days of returning to work and the Council will pay two thirds of the APC. For more information please contact Pensions, Tel: 01803 207410.
Right to Return
Employees have the right to return to the same job if they have been on shared parental leave plus any other type of leave for 26 weeks or less.
If you have been on leave for more than 26 weeks you have the right to return to the same job unless this is not reasonably practicable. If due to organisational change your role no longer exists you would be managed in accordance with the Council’s Redundancy policy.
Keeping in Touch Days
Both parents who are eligible for shared parental leave may take up to a maximum of 20 Shared Parental Leave Keeping in Touch (SPLIT) days between them. This is in addition to the 10 Keeping In Touch days available during a period of maternity leave.
SPLIT days should be approved by the employee’s line manager and requested using the SPLIT/KIT Days request form, available on MyView.
Taking KIT days, which are days when you attend work, will not end the employee’s entitlement to shared parental leave or statutory pay. On a SPLIT day the employee will be paid for the number of hours that they work.
Notice Requirements and Declarations
Maternity Leave Curtailment Notice
Anyone eligible and intending to take shared parental leave must submit a maternity/adoption leave curtailment notice, giving at least 8 weeks’ notice stating that they wish to end their maternity or adoption leave early.
The maternity leave curtailment notice must be in writing and state the date on which maternity leave is to end. That date must be:
- after the compulsory maternity leave period, which is the two weeks after birth;
- at least eight weeks after the date on which the mother gave the maternity leave curtailment notice to her employer; and
- at least one week before what would be the end of the additional maternity leave period.
Once the employee has ended their maternity/adoption leave and has returned to work they will only be entitled to statutory pay during periods of shared parental leave. At that point the employee cannot revert back onto maternity leave.
Employees should give careful consideration to the financial implications of ending their maternity/adoption leave early if they are in receipt of occupational maternity/adoption pay. This is because ShPL is paid at the lesser statutory rate.
A template Maternity Leave Curtailment Notice is available from MyView.
Withdrawing Maternity Leave Curtailment Notice
The mother can withdraw her notice curtailing her maternity leave in limited circumstances. The withdrawal of a maternity leave curtailment notice must be in writing and can be given only if the mother has not returned to work. The mother can withdraw her maternity leave curtailment notice if:
- it is discovered that neither the mother nor the partner are entitled to shared parental leave or statutory shared parental pay and the mother withdraws her maternity leave curtailment notice within eight weeks of the date on which the notice was given;
- the maternity leave curtailment notice was given before the birth of the child and the mother withdraws her maternity leave curtailment notice within six weeks of the child's birth; or
- the partner has died.
A Revocation of Maternity Leave Curtailment section is on the back of the Maternity Leave Curtailment notice and should be completed in the above circumstances.
Notice of Entitlement and Intention
Before taking leave, a notice of entitlement and intention to take shared parental leave must be submitted. This may be submitted at the same time as the maternity/adoption curtailment notice or at a later date but it cannot be later than 8 weeks before the date of the first period of shared parental leave.
Template Notices of Entitlement and Intention for both the mother/main adopter and partner are available from MyView.
Within 14 days of receiving a notice of entitlement and intention from the employee, whether the mother or partner, the employee’s line manager may request from the employee:
- a copy of the child's birth certificate (or, if the child has not been born, a copy of the birth certificate within 14 days of the birth - if the birth certificate has yet to be issued after this period, a signed declaration stating the date and location of the child's birth will suffice); and
- the name and address of the other parent's employer (or a declaration that the other parent has no employer).
The employee has 14 days from the date of the request to send their manager the required information.
Variation or Cancellation of Notice of Entitlement and Intention
The employee can vary or cancel his/her proposed shared parental leave dates following the submission of a notice of entitlement and intention, provided that he/she provides the Council with a written notice. The written notice must contain:
- an indication as to when the employee intends to take shared parental leave (including the start and end dates for each period of leave);
- details of any periods of shared parental leave that have been notified through a period of leave notice;
- details of any periods of statutory shared parental pay that have been notified in relation to periods where shared parental leave was not to be taken; and
- a declaration signed by the mother and the partner that they agree to the variation.
A template Variation or Cancellation of Notice of Entitlement and Intention Form is available from MyView.
A copy of any variation or cancellation must be provided to Human Resources by the manager. Scanned copies and/or emails can be sent to:- hrsupport@torbay.gov.uk
Requesting Blocks of Leave
ShPL can be requested by the employee in two ways:-
Continuous Leave - requests for a single block of continuous leave will be agreed by the employee’s line manager as this is a legal entitlement. The manager should write to the employee within 14 calendar days to confirm the request.
Discontinuous Leave - if a request is for more than a single block of leave (i.e. gaps in between leave and being at work) the employee’s manager may:
- Agree the request;
- Propose alternative dates for the leave to be taken; or
- Decline the request due to a business reason.
A template Shared Parental Leave Notice Form is available from MyView.
The manager should meet with the employee to discuss their request then agree the outcome within 14 calendar days of receiving the request. A template letter is available by contacting Human Resources.
Up to three separate requests for periods of shared parental leave and three withdrawal notices may be submitted by the employee. Any periods of leave that have been declined do not count towards these totals.
A template form to Vary a Period of Leave Notice is available from MyView.
If the employee has already decided the pattern of shared parental leave that they would like to take, they can provide more than one type of notice to their manager at the same time. For example, the mother could provide a maternity leave curtailment notice, notice of entitlement and intention and period of leave notice at the same time. Similarly, the partner could provide his/her notice of entitlement and intention and period of leave notice at the same time.
On receiving any of the above notices, managers are advised to contact Human Resources for guidance.
False Declaration
If it is found that an employee is falsely claiming ShPL or ShPP, this would amount to gross misconduct and would be dealt with accordingly under the Council’s disciplinary procedure. HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) will also be notified of any false claims which could also result in a fraud conviction against the individual and/or their spouse/partner.
Examples
Example 1 - Can both parents take shared parental leave at the same time?
Yes, both parents can be absent from work on shared parental leave at the same time.
The amount of shared parental leave that the parents can share is 52 weeks, minus the amount of maternity leave taken by the mother, or adoption leave taken by the primary adopter. All leave must be taken before the child's first birthday, or before the first anniversary of the day on which the child was placed for adoption. For example, the mother could take two weeks' compulsory maternity leave followed by 40 weeks' shared parental leave. This would leave 10 weeks' shared parental leave for the father (or the mother's partner) to take at any time before the child's first birthday, either at the same time as the mother or when she has returned to work.
In total Mum has taken 42 weeks
In total Mum has taken 42 weeks’ Shared Paternity Leave and 39 weeks’ Shared Paternity Pay, while Dad (or partner) has taken 10 week’s un-paid Shared Paternity Leave.
Example 2 - Can Parents take Shared Parental Leave together and separately?
Yes, both parents can take Shared Parental Leave together as well as splitting their Shared Parental Leave.
Mum takes 10 weeks’ maternity leave and pay. She then commits to going back to work at week 22; and by doing so frees up 30 weeks to be taken as Shared Parental Leave and 17 weeks of Shared parental pay still to be taken. Dad (or partner) takes 12 weeks of leave and pay to coincide with weeks 11 to 22 of Mum’s maternity leave.
Then he takes a further 5 weeks’ Shared Parental Leave and the last 5 weeks of Shared Parental Pay and 3 weeks’ of un- paid Shared Parental Leave, while Mum returns to work.
Then when Dad (or partner) goes back to work Mum takes the final 10 weeks of un-paid Shared Parental Leave.
In total Mum has taken 32 weeks’ Shared Paternity leave and 22 weeks’ Shared Paternity Pay, while Dad (or partner) has taken 20 week’s Shared Paternity Leave and 17 week’s Shared Paternity pay.
Policy Feedback
Should you have any comments regarding this policy, please address them to the HR Policy mailbox – HRpolicy@torbay.gov.uk
| Date | Page | Details of Change | Agreed by: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 December 2014 | All | New policy – legislative requirement. | JCC |
| April 2015 | 5 | Addition of new section – Who is eligible for Shared Parental Pay? | Information Only |
| April 2015 | 5 | Addition of new section – pension arrangements where periods of SPL are not paid | Information Only |
Policy to be reviewed as and when required due to operational or legislative changes.