NGSU Regional Councils – Oct/Nov 2014 Shared Parental Leave Nationwide Group Staff Union

NGSU Regional Councils – Oct/Nov 2014 Shared Parental Leave New legal entitlement for eligible parents of babies due, or children placed for adoption, on or after 5 April 2015 Regulations due to be law from 1 December 2014 Regulations gives parents a legal right to take SPL and ensure that they are not penalised or put under pressure to change/cancel leave Parents can retain existing entitlements to maternity/adoption/paternity leave/parental leave (but SPL replaces additional paternity leave)

NGSU Regional Councils – Oct/Nov 2014 Shared Parental Leave Calculated using mother’s entitlement to maternity/adoption leave of 52 weeks If mother chooses to reduce their maternity/adoption leave entitlement their partner can share the remaining leave period Birth mother must take two weeks maternity leave following the birth of a child (4 weeks if a factory worker) SPL can be taken two weeks after child placed for adoption Partner can take SPL along side maternity leave

NGSU Regional Councils – Oct/Nov 2014 Shared Parental Leave To qualify for SPL a mother must have: –A partner –Be entitled to either maternity/adoption leave or to statutory adoption pay or maternity allowance –Have curtailed or reduced their maternity/adoption leave A parent intending to take SPL must: –Be an employee –Share primary responsibility for the child with the other parent at the time of birth or adoption –Provided proper notice and necessary declarations to employer Must satisfy the: –Continuity of employment test –Employment and earnings test Sometimes only one parent will be eligible e.g. self employed parent is not but may pass the tests making the other parent eligible if they are an employee

NGSU Regional Councils – Oct/Nov 2014 Shared Parental Leave SPL can be taken as: –A continuous block (an unbroken period e.g. six weeks) A continuous block cannot be refused –A discontinuous block (e.g. four weeks leave; three weeks work; four weeks leave etc) A discontinuous block can be –Agreed –Amended by agreement –Refused –Ignored (but default arrangements apply) –Parents can give three separate notices to book leave

NGSU Regional Councils – Oct/Nov 2014 Shared Parental Leave Must give at least 8 weeks notice of each period of leave Employer has 14 days to agree or refuse a discontinuous period –If refused employee can Withdraw request and this does not count as one of the three requests Leave automatically defaults as continuous leave Parents can request 20 SPLIT days –There is no obligation on either party to give or take SPLIT days Good communication and planning is key to optimising SPL

NGSU Regional Councils – Oct/Nov 2014 Shared Parental Leave There is no statutory requirement to give enhanced pay during SPL Parents may want to consider how enhanced pay periods fit with SPL when deciding sharing arrangements –At NBS Enhanced Maternity pay = 14 weeks Paternity Pay = 2 weeks Nationwide is considering cost/discrimination implications of enhanced pay in SPL