Around four in five potential future parents will consider taking shared parental leave

In a survey conducted by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills it was identified that a potential 83% of future parents would consider utilising Shared Parental Leave which applies to all parents from April 2015.

These new rules allow mum and dad to decide how they want to split their leave when they’ve had a baby for a period of up to 50 weeks and up to 37 weeks statutory pay in the child’s first year.  In fact 75% of the fathers surveyed would have already taken up the opportunity of Shared Parental Leave if it had been available to them at the time they had their children.

Read the full article from HR Magazine here

Are you prepared for this change in legislation?  Here are some pointers that you must be aware of:

If employees want to apply for Shared Parental Leave (SPL) then they must state their intention in writing

Evidence must be provided of the birth

SPL can be split

Mum must still take her two week compulsory maternity leave

Employees must give at least 8 weeks’ notice of their intention to start SPL

8 weeks’ notice is also required to end Statutory Maternity Leave (SML) to start SPL – this is known as a curtailment notice

There’s no doubt this is quite a complex change in legislation for employers so if you would like to find out more information, contact us here at HR Heroes and we will be pleased to help.