HR Update - Notice for shared parental leave

Shared parental leave comes in on 5 April 2015. If one or both parents want to take shared leave they need to give written 'notice of entitlement' to the employer at least eight weeks before the start of the first period of shared parental leave. The notice should include:

• mother's and father's names and national insurance numbers
• start and end date of statutory maternity leave taken/to be taken by the mother
• the amount of statutory maternity pay or allowance received or to be received
• expected week of birth
• the amount of shared parental leave available
• confirmation that the mother/father is sharing childcare with their partner
• a non-binding indication of how much shared parental leave both parties intend to take and the proposed start and end dates
• a declaration from each parent to confirm that the mother and father satisfy the eligibility criteria, the information given is accurate, and if either parent ceases to meet the conditions of entitlement they will notify the employer.

Period of leave notice

• This notice, which sets out start and end dates of requested leave, must be given at least eight weeks before the requested start date.
• Notice can be given at the same time as the notice of entitlement, or later.
• The notice can request one or more periods of leave.
• If the notice has been given before the child is born, the start date of the requested leave may be expressed as a number of days from the date the child is born.

Only three periods of leave notices in total can be given by each parent, including requests to vary a period of leave that has already been arranged.

Keeping in touch days

Each parent is entitled to 20 split days.

Action points

Employers should:

• Review and update existing maternity, paternity and adoption policies and procedures and prepare ones relating to shared parental leave.
• Consider how requests for a continuous block of leave will be managed (these cannot be refused).
• Consider how requests for discontinuous patterns of leave will be evaluated and responded to, including what factors to be taken into account.

These are some of the main points of the legislation; there is a lot more that you will need to be aware of.