Shared Parental Leave

Presented by……..

We will cover

• Current policies and changes to current entitlements

• New Shared Parental Leave regulations • Surrogacy arrangements

Current Policies

• Maternity Leave• Paternity Leave• Adoption Leave• KIT days• Parental Leave

Maternity Policy

No changes to Maternity entitlements

Eligibility Leave Entitlements Pay Entitlements

Less than 26 weeks service by the 11th week (Qualifying week) before EWC

52 weeks

1 weeks full pay,38 weeks paid at SMP or 90% of weekly earnings whichever is less

More than 26 weeks service by the 11th week (Qualifying week) before EWC

52 weeks1 weeks full pay, 38 weeks’ pay at SMP rate

More than 52 weeks service by the 11th week (Qualifying week) before EWC

15 months18 weeks full pay, 21 weeks SMP rate

Paternity Entitlements

No changes to Paternity entitlements

Eligibility Leave Entitlements Pay Entitlements

Less than 26 weeks service by the 15th week before EWC (or matched to a child)

2 weeks 1 weeks full pay

More than 26 weeks service by the 15th week before EWC (or matched to a child)

2 weeks1 weeks full pay, 1 weeks’ pay at SPP rate

Adoption Entitlements

• Adoption leave now becomes a right from day 1*• Statutory adoption pay (SAP) to be brought in to line with

statutory maternity pay, so the first six weeks of SAP will be paid at 90 per cent of the employee's normal earnings, rather than at a flat rate**

Eligibility Leave

Entitlements Pay Entitlements

Less than 26 weeks service by the by the point of getting matched to a child 52 weeks

1 weeks full pay, 38 weeks’ pay at SAP rate

More than 26 weeks service by the by the point of getting matched to a child 52 weeks

1 weeks full pay, 38 weeks’ pay at SAP rate

More than 52 weeks service by the by the point of getting matched to a child 52 weeks

18 weeks full pay, 21 weeks SAP rate

KIT days

• This policy will no longer be relevant for parents who’s child is expected to be born/ matched after the 6th April 2015. This will sit under the new policy

Parental Leave

• From April 2015 parents will be able to take parental leave for children up to 18 years old.*

New Policy

• Maternity, Paternity, Adoption & Shared Parental Leave Policy

• 4 policies* merged into 1 with the addition of Shared Parental Leave

• New policy format**

Eligibility• To be eligible an employee must meet the following criteria:• You (or your partner) must be entitled to maternity / adoption leave, or

statutory maternity / adoption pay (or maternity allowance from the Government)

• Step 1 - Continuity test: if you are seeking to take shared parental leave, one parent / adopter must have worked for the same employer for at least 26 weeks at the end of the 15th week before the week in which the child is due (or at the week in which an adopter was notified of having been matched with a child or adoption) and they should still be employed in the first week that shared parental leave is to be taken.

• The other parent /adopter has to have worked for 26 weeks in the 66 weeks leading up to the due date and have earned above the maternity allowance threshold of £30 a week in 13 of the 66 weeks.

• Step 2 - Individual eligibility for pay: To qualify for shared parental pay the parent / main adopter must, as well as passing the Continuity test, also have earned an average salary of the National Insurance lower earnings limit or more for the 8 weeks prior to the 15th week before the expected birth / adoption.

Shared Parental LeaveEntitlements

  Leave Entitlements Pay entitlements

Leave and Pay entitlement to be shared between parents

52 weeks (2 weeks must be taken by mother following birth) Partner also receives 2 weeks Paternity leave*

39 weeks SMP + Paternity leave payments**

Shared Parental LeaveProcess

Employee informs manager they/ their partner intends to curtail their leave entitlement

Employee completes the Notification of Shared parental leave form advising of dates requested.

Manager approves/ rejects the leave request

Approves

The line manager sends the form to the HRBC and informs Rostering of the dates

the employee will be on leave

Manager advises why the leave is not supported and sends the form to the

HRBC

The HRBC writes to the employee advising the options available to the

employee

Rejects

Shared Parental LeaveProcess (Cont)

• The mother should fill out both parts of the Maternity Notification Forms.

• Following a decision to “Curtail”* the leave the mother should complete the Notification of Shared parental Leave form and submit the form to the line manager, the manager will decide if to accept the request or not.**

• The line manager should advise the employee of the outcome.***

Shared Parental LeaveProcess request approved

• If the line manager approves the request the form should be sent to the HRBC to be processed and inform Rostering of the dates of leave.

Shared Parental LeaveProcess request refused

• Should a request for Shared Parental Leave be refused the line manager should send the forms to the HRBC who will write to the employee advising the options available to them.

Shared Parental LeaveProcess request refused (Cont)

• The HRBC will write the employee offering them 4 options

• Agree a mutually beneficial set of dates*• Make a formal appeal**• Take Consecutive leave***• Withdraw the request****

Notifications

• If the notification to curtail leave is submitted before the childs birth the request maybe withdrawn, if the request is made after the birth the request is binding.

• Employee are allowed to submit three notifications* per a child.

KIT days/ SPLIT days

• Mothers/ main adopters are allowed to take 10 KIT days during Maternity Leave*

• Both parents are allowed to take 20 SPLIT days** during Shared Parental Leave

Surrogacy

• UK law* states that the legal mother is the women who gives birth to the child rather than the biological mother, even if the mother does not look after the child they are entitled to usual maternity rights.

• If parents have a child via surrogacy they must apply for a “parental order” to formally adopt the child and then will be eligible to adoption leave.