Shared Parental Leave don't make the mistake I did

[PostHeads123]

Shared parental leave (SPL) came into force April 2015 and it appears its not that widely known about or the finer detail of it, particular in how new fathers can use it. I only found out about it after the birth and in a nut shell I lost the opportunity to have 10 weeks off on full pay.

A lot depends on your employers maternity deal for the ladies but in my case if I was the pregnant one I would of got 6 months full pay, now as a result of SPL as a father you could use some of partners 52 weeks as your maternity leave and in my case if I had taken it in the first 6 months of the birth I would of got full pay. In my case my partner is going back to work in week 39 leaving 10 weeks that I could of used at the same time as her, if I had used these 10 weeks within the first 6 months I would of been fully paid, it wouldn't impact partners SMP which is all she got.

Kicking myself now, it does take a bit of forward planning before the birth as there are deadlines etc you need to let the employer know by, I only found out about SPL by chance when I read it in the paper that there was low take up on it.

Edited by PostHeads123 on Thursday 29th September 15:34

[edc]

Statutory shared parental leave is at the statutory rates.

[PostHeads123]

edc said:

Statutory shared parental leave is at the statutory rates.

Yes but for me my employer would of paid me my full salary as long as I had taken it in the first 6 months, 6 months full pay is what the offer female staff so men get the same. I could still take leave after the 39 weeks but just 0 SMP as finished by theb and 0 employer pay.

[AyBee]

One of my ex colleagues (I moved), used it, he got 3 months off on full pay, his wife took 6 months of full and 3 months of statutory and returned to work after 9 months, and...since they also offer a months salary as an incentive for women to come back early, he also got that

[PurpleMoonlight]

Have, not of.

[Blown2CV]

I've been investigating this too... HR at my employer put me in touch with this woman who did an absolutely ste job of explaining this to me. Maybe you guys can help.

So my missus who is a teacher wants to go back from maternity 3 weeks early. That means I can take this 3 weeks to use. I get that the amount of money i get paid is dependent on when i take the 3 weeks... but am i right in thinking it's also dependent on my employer's terms for maternity, even though i am a man?

I am trying to establish what i could get paid if i take the 3 weeks before the fabled 39th week of my missus' maternity. Is it basically the same as what my employer would have paid me if i were a new mum working for them?!

cheers

[BoRED S2upid]

Your kidding me? I thought it would have been one or the other to get full pay not both! I can see me having a month off full pay if this is true and it doesn't effect my other half SMP. No wonder nobody knows about this it's a double hit for employers.

[Blown2CV]

does anyone actually know the facts here...?

i can't imagine Mrs 2CV can chop 3 weeks at zero pay off the end of her maternity, and then i get to then use 3 weeks at full pay over and above my standard paternity...? i mean my employer was cagey so maybe it's such a good deal for employees that they don't want people to take it up? i suppose the govt would rather that time was used to generate income tax than nothing at all, but would employers not be staging mutiny?!

[edc]

Here's a couple of links to help
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4911
http://www.maternityaction.org.uk/advice-2/mums-da...

[BoRED S2upid]

Blown2CV said:

does anyone actually know the facts here...?

i can't imagine Mrs 2CV can chop 3 weeks at zero pay off the end of her maternity, and then i get to then use 3 weeks at full pay over and above my standard paternity...? i mean my employer was cagey so maybe it's such a good deal for employees that they don't want people to take it up? i suppose the govt would rather that time was used to generate income tax than nothing at all, but would employers not be staging mutiny?!

An employer who knows the rules will have a policy in place that covers their arse. Mine is along the lines of shared paternity only applies when the primary one I.e wife but we don't want to be sexist returns to work. Anything left the other one can use and get paid accordingly which is likely to be towards the end when it's dropped to statutory. So not as the OP suggests that you say she goes back 4 weeks early and I take those 4 weeks at full pay. His employers needs a better policy.

[PostHeads123]

I was initially told I could not take the time off at the same time as my partner, but then HR finally said I could do that but by that point it was too late for me to take it and get full paid. My misses only got SMP and nothing from her employer I'm not sure tbh if her SMP would of stopped for the period I could of been off on full pay for though. Fathers get 2 weeks paid leave regardless now so I did take that but they seem to make such a big deal of the 2 weeks being such a good deal that you end up thinking that's all you can take. Anyway equal right for men and all that

[Blown2CV]

i can only assume they've made it so hard to fathom that most people don't bother.

[curlie467]

PurpleMoonlight said:

Have, not of.

Thanks.

[Welshbeef]

Is there anyway of playing the game

I.e. My wife doesn't work so when we have another child could I get the Briscoe bonus of wage for time off up to 10 weeks?

[Spitfire2]

My employer and I believe most, only pay the statutory amounts. I was going to take some but it was going to cost us too much so it didn't happen.

Good to hear some companies have a better policy though.

[BoRED S2upid]

Welshbeef said:

Is there anyway of playing the game

I.e. My wife doesn't work so when we have another child could I get the Briscoe bonus of wage for time off up to 10 weeks?

Check your company policy. Our states I can only take a share of wife's leave when she returns to work so you may not be able to do this.

[Craikeybaby]

Companies should have a policy for this, although my HR manager wasn't best pleased when I asked about it, as she hadn't written it yet.

I'm essentially doing what the OP advised against - taking 9 weeks off when my wife has gone back to work. This will be unpaid. From what I remember of the form, If I took my 9 weeks off early, I would have had to say how many weeks of statutory maternity pay my wife was taking.

You can both take the time off at the same time, but we have chosen not to, mainly to delay the little one having to go to nursery before his first birthday. I think both HR departments were pleased about that, as it kept things simple for them.