On and After 5th April 2015 it will become EU law that couples with babies due or children matched or placed for adoption, will be able to share leave.
So how does it work? The mother is entitled to up to a total of 52 weeks maternity leave, of which 39 weeks are paid. The father is still entitled to 2 weeks paid paternity leave. The changes in legislation state that the first two weeks of maternity leave must still be taken by the mother, but there will now be the option to end maternity leave early after these two weeks. The remaining 50 weeks of maternity leave can be shared with her partner as Shared Parental Leave (SPL). The remaining 37 weeks’ pay will be available as Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP).
So as an employee what do you need to provide?
1) The employee must give the employer written notice of their entitlement of Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP)
2) Their partner’s name
3) Maternity start and end dates
4) How much SPL and ShPP they intent to take
5) That they will be sharing childcare responsibility with their partner.
6) The partner needs to sign a declaration stating their name and NI number, that the meet the requirements for SPL and ShPP and that they agree to your employee to take SPL and ShPP.
As the employer you will need
1) The child’s birth certificate
2) The name and address of the partner’s employer
An employee must give at least 8 weeks’ notice of any leave they wish to take. If the child is born more than 8 weeks early, this notice period can be shorter.
So how could Mitrefinch help you keep track of all the above complication in an easy and effective way? Our Time and Attendance software makes it quick and simple to allocate this leave (into the automated system). From there you can plan for Keeping in Touch Days or the new Shared Parental Leave in Touch Days (SPLIT days).
Knowing when your employee is not going to be working then helps you manage scheduling and with our skills matrix you can ensure the right people are in the right place to cover any absences.
If all this is sounding like a paperwork nightmare why not get in touch and see how Mitrefinch can help you manage parental leave in the workplace. For more infomation on the this type of leave see gov.co.uk
