Shared Parental Leave and Pay

How it works

You and your partner may be able to get Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) if you’re:

• having a baby
• using a surrogate to have a baby
• adopting a child
• fostering a child who you’re planning to adopt

You can share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay between you.

You need to share the pay and leave in the first year after your child is born or placed with your family.

You can useSPL to take leave in blocks separated by periods of work, or take it all in one go. You can also choose to be off work together or to stagger the leave and pay.

To getSPL andShPP, you and your partner need to:

• meet the eligibility criteria - there’s differentcriteria for birth parents andcriteria for adoptive parents or parents using a surrogate

• give notice to your employers

• give up some of your maternity or adoption leave and pay

Giving up maternity and adoption leave and pay

To getSPL andShPP you or your partner has to:

• take less than the 52 weeks of maternity or adoption leave and use the rest asSPL
• take less than the 39 weeks of maternity or adoption pay (or Maternity Allowance) and use the rest asShPP

For example, if you’re the mother and you’ve taken 22 weeks of Maternity Leave and Statutory Maternity Pay, you can share 30 weeks ofSPL and 17 weeks ofShPP with your partner.