Shared Parental Leave Policy - Template, Sample Form

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SHARED PARENTAL LEAVE POLICY

Purpose

This policy shall set out the commitment of ________ ("the Employer") to providing Shared Parental Leave to employees. Shared Parental Leave provides the option for eligible parents to decide how they shall share and split the responsibility of caring for their child during the first 12 months' after birth or adoption of the child. This policy shall provide details on responsibilities of employees and the Employer in relation to Shared Parental Leave and details on entitlement to Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) and the relevant procedure that should be followed.

What is Shared Parental Leave?

Shared Parental Leave (SPL) was introduced by The Shared Parental Leave Regulations 2014 and enables parents to share an entitlement to leave and pay during the first year of a child's life or the first year following adoption. The aim of this is to give parents more flexibility and choice when undertaking childcare roles within their family. SPL does not remove an employee's right to take Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave or Paternity Leave but gives them more options on how they wish to administer the care of their child.

Eligibility for Shared Parental Leave

In order to be eligible for SPL an employee must comply with the following:

• they must have been employed by the Employer for a continuous minimum period of 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the due date of the baby; or
• they must have been employed by the Employer for a continuous minimum period of 26 weeks by the date on which the employee is notified of a match for adoption;
• they must remain employed by the Employer for the duration of the time they take SPL;
• they must be or expect to be a parental caregiver to the child and to share this responsibility with their:
• spouse;
• civil partner;
• the partner they live with;
• joint adopter; or
• the child's other parent; and
• they must have provided the Employer with the correct notice of their intention to take SPL and this must include a declaration that their partner meets the employment and income requirements required by law for an employee to be eligible to take SPL.

It is extremely important that both the mother/primary adopter and their partner/the child's other parent have considered the criteria as to their qualification to be eligible for SPL.

The employee's partner must also have complied with the following in order to be eligible for SPL:

• have worked for at least 26 weeks in the previous 66 weeks before the expected birth week of the child or the date of the placement of the child;
• have earned a minimum of £390 (three hundred and ninety pounds sterling) in total for 13 weeks of the 66 weeks before the expected week of birth of the child or the date of placement.
  
  

What are employees entitled to?

SPL can only be granted by the Employer if the employee is eligible under the aforementioned stipulations. These allow for eligible employees to elect to share their statutory entitlement of 52 weeks Maternity Leave or Adoption Leave with the other parent of their child. The mother or primary adopter of the child must use two compulsory weeks of their statutory maternity/adoption leave before they can chose to bring this leave to an end and transfer the remaining weeks of their leave into SPL. This means that employees are entitled to a maximum of 50 weeks of SPL.

Once the mother or primary adopter of the child has taken the minimum two legally required weeks of their maternity/adoption leave, they must then provide the relevant notice to the Employer that they will take the remaining weeks of their leave as SPL before any period of SPL can begin.

SPL can begin for fathers/partners from any time immediately following the birth of the child or the date the placement of the child shall commence. The father/partner may choose to use any entitlements they may have to Paternity Leave before they commence SPL as they shall not be able to access any Paternity Leave entitlements or Paternity Leave Pay once SPL or ShPP has commenced.

Employees may also be entitled to ShPP during their leave and this may be paid for some or for the entirety of the SPL taken by the parents.

Shared Parental Pay (ShPP)

In order for an employee to be eligible for ShPP they must meet the following criteria:

• have worked for at least 26 weeks in the previous 66 weeks before the expected birth week of the child or the date the placement;
• earned at least £120 a week for 8 weeks before the 15th week of the expected birth of the child or match date of adoption.

Where the employee matches this criteria they may be eligible for up to 37 weeks of ShPP. The amount of time that ShPP can be paid for will be dependent on how many weeks of maternity/adoption leave the employee takes before beginning SPL. ShPP is also dependent upon the employee's partner meeting the stated eligibility criteria of:

• having worked for at least 26 weeks in the previous 66 weeks before the expected birth week of the child or the date the placement; and
• having earned a minimum of £390 (three hundred and ninety pounds sterling) in total for 13 weeks of the 66 weeks before the expected week of birth of the child or the date of placement.

During any period of SPL, eligible employees shall be entitled to ShPP at the statutory rate of:

• £151.20 per week for a maximum of 37 weeks; or
• 90% of the employee's average weekly earnings.

The rate of pay that the employee will receive will be decided by which of the two figures is lower, i.e. if 90% of an employee's average weekly pay is higher than £151.20 then they will not receive the 90% average and instead will receive £151.20. Where 90% of an employee's average pay is lower than £151.20 they will receive that amount rather than £151.20.

The Employer shall continue to make statutory pension contributions while the employee receives any ShPP. The Employer shall not continue to make such pension contributions where the employee takes a period of unpaid SPL.

Process of Applying for SPL

Where an employee intends to take SPL they must follow the process detailed within this policy in order for it to be accepted as valid by the Employer. The employee who intends to take SPL must provide the Employer with notice of this intention, and their entitlement to to SPL, a minimum of 8 weeks before the date on which they should like any period of SPL to begin. The notice should be given to ________ using the following: ________. This can be obtained from:

________

A brief description of the information required for ________ is as follows:

________

The employee must also confirm in writing to the Employer that they or their partner wants to curtail their maternity/adoption leave in order to take SPL. This can be done when providing notice of their intention to take SPL. This must also be done a minimum of 8 weeks before the the date on which they wish their SPL to begin.

The Employer will also require the following evidence from an employee in order to confirm their request for SPL:

1. a copy of the child's birth certificate or a declaration confirming the date, place and time of birth of the child;

2. evidence of the adoption agency used by the employee (e.g. name, address and contact details of agency), copies of documentation confirming placement of the child with the employee and the date on which placement shall begin;

3. the name and address of the partner's employer and confirmation of the partner's eligibility for SPL and/or ShPP or if the partner of the employee is self employed, their name and address and a declaration from the partner confirming their eligibility.

Any evidence requested by the Employer shall be requested within 14 days from the date on which notice is given by the employee of their intention to take SPL.

An employee may request that the Employer keep confidential from other employees information regarding to the birth or adoption of their child insofar as is reasonable practical to the daily management and operations of the Employer.

Booking Periods of SPL

Once the employee has provided notice of their intention and entitlement to take SPL to the Employer and it has been accepted, they shall need to provide the Employer with notice of the dates they wish to take the leave. This can be done at the same time notice of intention is given or it can be be given after the notice of intention has been provided to the Employer. In all cases, the Employer must be notified of the dates on which the employee wishes to take SPL 8 weeks before the start of any leave period.

The Employer encourages all employees to discuss the dates of any SPL they wish to take with their manager or supervisor before submitting any formal request. This will be beneficial for both parties as it allows for more time to be taken to consider the necessary factors before approving any request for SPL where periods of discontinuous leave have been requested. Where the Employer and the employee cannot come to a satisfactory agreement around the dates and periods of any discontinuous leave, the employee will be permitted to take one singular period of leave from their chosen SPL start date.

Employees shall be given the opportunity to submit three requests to book SPL. Each request submitted can be for:

(A). a single period of continuous weeks leave; or

(B). two or more periods of discontinuous leave where the employee intends to return to work between the specified periods of leave.

Periods of SPL must be taken in complete weeks but the date and day on which the leave can begin is the decision of the employee. For example, where an employee wishes to stop working on a Tuesday and take one week of leave, the leave will begin on the Wednesday and will end on the following Tuesday.

Continuous Leave

Continuous leave means periods of leave that are taken in singular blocks where the employee will not return to work during the period of the leave, e.g. if the employee wishes to take 10 weeks of SPL, these 10 weeks shall be taken as one whole 10 week block. An employee can submit up to three bookings of continuous leave, so long as these periods do not extend over the employee's overall entitlement and notice has been given to the Employer a minimum of 8 weeks in advance. Continuous leave requests shall always be accepted and approved by the Employer provided the employee is eligible to take SPL.

Discontinuous Leave

Periods of discontinuous leave are taken over a number of weeks and interspersed with times when the employee will return to work, e.g. the employee may take 10 weeks of SPL in total but shall return to work every second week, i.e. two weeks of leave and one week of work for 3 months. A maximum of two periods of discontinuous leave can be booked in a single request made by the employee to the Employer.

Periods of discontinuous leave shall be carefully considered by the Employer before being approved or denied as is the right of the Employer under the 2014 regulations. The Employer shall notify the employee of any refusal or approval of discontinuous leave within 14 days of the date on which the request was made. In cases where discontinuous SPL is refused by the Employer, employees shall have the right to withdraw the request within 15 days of the date it was given or the employee can opt to take a period of continuous leave instead.

Employer Responses to SPL Notifications

Once a notice of SPL has been received by the Employer, they shall respond to it within 14 days of the date it was provided to them by the employee.

Crucially, employees who have requested SPL as a period of continuous leave shall be entitled to this from the date on which they have requested such leave to begin. This shall be confirmed to the employee in writing by the Employer on or before the 14th day after the notice for such leave was submitted.

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Employees shall have the ability to do the following where any leave dates are refused by the Employer:

1. take the leave in one continuous block from the first date they suggested the discontinuous SPL begin, e.g. if the employee requested 4 blocks of discontinuous leave that would last for 3 weeks each they would entitled to one 12 week continuous block;

2. withdraw the original dates requested by the 15th day from the date on which the booking was originally submitted;

3. withdraw the period of leave booking within 2 days of the end of the 14 day discussion/consideration period with the Employer so that this notice of leave is not counted as one of the employee's 3 bookings that can be submitted by them to the Employer; or

4. select a different start date that is still within 8 weeks of the date on which the notice was originally given to the Employer and inform the Employer of the new date or dates within 5 days before the end of the 14 day discussion/consideration period.

In the event where the Employer fails to give any response to the employee within 14 days of the date on which notice of leave was given by the employee, this shall be deemed to have been accepted and confirmed by the Employer and the employee shall be entitled to take the leave on the dates they have given in the notice.

Changes and Variations to SPL

An employee will be permitted to change or vary the dates of their SPL that have already been booked with the Employer provided that such variation or change is made apparent to the Employer within 8 weeks of the change or variation taking place. Any wanted changes or variations should be notified to the employee's manager or supervisor in writing.

A requested change or variation to any period of SPL will be counted as one of the three bookings that can be made by employees. Where the Employer is the one who requests the change or variation to the leave period, this will not count as one of the employee's bookings being used and neither will it count where the child of the employee is born prematurely.

If after a period of SPL has begun it is found that the Employee or their partner is not eligible to take SPL under this above stated eligibility criteria, they shall have any SPL or ShPP granted terminated and they shall be able to take any period of maternity, adoption or paternity leave that is available to them in place of SPL.

Any requested change or variation will always be confirmed in writing by the Employer to the employee.

Keeping in Touch (SPLIT) Days

Employees who are on a period of SPL shall be entitled to work for the Employer for up to 20 days during their leave without bringing that period of SPL to an end or losing any entitlement to ShPP. These days are known as Shared Parental Leave in Touch (SPLIT) days and are in addition to any Keeping in Touch (KIT) days an employee may be entitled to during a period of maternity or adoption leave.

SPLIT days are entirely optional and shall only be worked where both the employee and the Employer agree to them. Neither the Employer nor the employee is under any obligation to offer or to accept any SPLIT days. The type of work to be undertaken on a SPLIT day, and the rate of pay for any such day, shall be agreed between the employee and the Employer in advance.

Any work carried out on a single day shall be counted as one whole SPLIT day, regardless of the number of hours worked on that day. Where an employee works more than the 20 SPLIT days permitted, this may result in the period of SPL coming to an end and the loss of any further entitlement to ShPP.

Returning to Work

The Employer will have confirmed the dates of any periods of SPL to the employee in writing. The employee will be expected to return to work on the first work day immediately proceeding the date on which their SPL will come to an end. The Employer shall highlight the day on which the employee will be expected to return to work in any confirmation or correspondence they have with the employee regarding the dates of the SPL.

Where an employee wishes to return to work earlier than their originally agreed date with the Employer, they should submit a variation or change request to the Employer in writing. This must be done at least 8 weeks before the employee plans to return to work. This will count as one of the employee's three notices or bookings that can be submitted for SPL. Where the employee has already used all of their three bookings or notices the Employer is under no obligation to grant or consider their request to return to work early but may do so if it is compatible with the operations and activities of the Employer.

Where an employee is unable to return to work due to illness or injury, they should use the normal procedure in place with the Employer to report such an absence. Where an employee does not return to work when they are expected to and this has not received the prior authorisation of the Employer, this shall be treated as an unauthorised absence and may incur any repercussions the Employer feels is necessary.

When the employee returns to work, they shall be entitled to the same job and position under the same terms and conditions that they would have if they had not taken SPL where the total amount of SPL and maternity/paternity/adoption leave amounts to no more than 26 weeks or less. Where an employee has taken more than 26 weeks in SPL and maternity/paternity/adoption leave then the employee will be entitled to return to the same job or, where this is not reasonably practicable or feasible, to a another job on terms which are no less favourable than those which the employee was on before.

Where the employee believes they will no longer be able to fulfil their usual hours of work upon their return from SPL, the will be entitled to put in a request to alter their working hours with the Employer. This should be made in accordance with the Employer's Flexible Working Policy, a copy of this policy can be obtained as follows:

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Annual Leave during SPL

Any SPL granted by the Employer and taken by employees is additional to their annual leave entitlements. Employees should be aware that they shall continue to accrue annual leave entitlement while on SPL and should consider when best to use that leave upon their return.

Contract of Employment

This policy shall form a part of all employees' contract of employment with the Employer.

This policy is made is accordance with all relevant and applicable legislation as may be in place from time to time. This standard procedure and guidance is applicable to and should be followed all employees at all levels within ________.

This policy shall be effective from ________ and may updated from time to time, as may be necessary, by the Employer. The policy shall remain in force until such time that it is revoked by the Employer.

Signed: _________________________________ (________)

Date: _________________________________