Coverage of shared parental leave, one of our main employment law changes, has picked up recently, not least thanks to our Minister and her husband blazing the trail with their childcare arrangements.
It is an ambitious reform – it is designed to give parents much more choice over how they manage childcare in the first year of their child’s life. Ultimately, we think this will allow dads to play a bigger role in looking after their children and give parents more options for balancing childcare with continuing their careers.
It works by making maternity leave more flexible. From next year mums will be able to end their maternity leave early and share whatever is left (including the statutory pay) as shared parental leave and pay with their partner. That gives dads much more opportunity to get involved, and breaks down the assumption childcare is a woman’s job which has become outdated for many couples today. With shared parental leave a woman could choose to take half her maternity leave and give the other half to her partner. Or at its extreme – take only the first few weeks of maternity leave and give the rest, nearly a year, to her partner to use.
The new law will also give parents the freedom to share and divide the leave how it suits them. Shared leave can be taken at the same time – in the example above the couple could take half a year’s leave each at the same time, which is great for couples who want to spend more time as a family in the early months. And leave can also be divided up and taken in blocks. With the agreement of the employer, couples will be able to alternate who is on leave.
Why are we doing this? Partly it is simply a case of legislation keeping up with society. Current law gives 52 weeks leave to the mother, and just two weeks basic leave to dads. That assumes, and perhaps re-enforces, that the mother does more, which doesn’t apply to some families today. Shared parental leave means couples can decide for themselves what is best: it means the law gives parents choices, instead of restricting them to one arrangement.
The other reason the Government is introducing shared parental leave is to increase equality in employment. We find that, on average, women’s employment and pay rates fall slightly in the years after they become mothers, while fathers’ hold up and even increase. Part of that difference is down to women taking on more childcare responsibilities. Our research shows that if fathers are more involved in the early months, they stay involved and shared parenting becomes the norm. That means childcare responsibilities are shared more evenly, and in the longer term we’d expect that to help even out the differences in employment. It also has good outcomes for children.
The team will be posting more over the months on how we make sure employers and parents are prepared for this change. We are always seeking views on how best we do that, as well as your thoughts on boosting the role of dads and shared parenting. Please add your comments below.
10 comments
Comment by RP posted on
Great idea in practice, but what plans does the government have to encourage employers to replicate enhanced maternity leave entitlements to make SPL a reality? Otherwise there will still be an enormous financial incentive for the mother to take most of the time off for most families where both parents work, undermining the purpose of the reform.
Comment by David Marshall posted on
Thanks for your comment RP and your support. You make a point that a number of people have raised. That is, it won’t make financial sense for lots of couples to have the dad take more leave because he will miss out on his salary while receiving the statutory rate of £138.18 a week. For families in which the dad earns more than the mum it would make financial sense, the argument goes, for the dad to go back to work and for the mum to take the majority of leave because there is less of a difference between her salary and the statutory rate. In fact the Family Resources Survey shows 28% of working couples now have the female as the higher earner – you could imagine that the financial incentive for these couples would be for the mum to go back to worker earlier and the dad to take more of the leave.
How SPL works in practice – including how it links up with occupational schemes offered by employers – is something we are going to keep looking at.
Comment by JM posted on
How does this work in practice if Mum and Dad take their leave at the same time?
Does Occupational maternity pay expire at twice the normal rate (e.g. 1 week maternity leave is infact now 2 as 2 people are off)?
What is Dad entitled to? His workplace maternity scheme or Mum's maternity scheme?
Are there legal obligations on employers to correspond with one another?
Comment by David Marshall posted on
Hello Jon, thanks for your questions. What happens is that the mother chooses to end her statutory maternity leave early. Whatever she had left is converted into ‘shared parental leave’, and that can be shared by both partners, and taken by them at the same time if they wish. If a Dad takes shared parental leave he would not be entitled to share his partner’s occupational maternity leave or pay – employers can decide whether they wish to offer occupational shared parental leave and pay over and above the statutory entitlement, but this is separate from occupational maternity schemes. And finally, employers do not need to get in touch with one another. They do not need to check what information they have been given about the partner – they simply deal with the leave and pay arrangements for their own employee.
Comment by Amanda Steadman posted on
Can you confirm whether statutory shared parental pay will be enhanced to 90% of pay for the first 6 weeks in the same was as statutory maternity pay? The online Government guidance suggests it will not be, yet this seems out of step with maternity pay and - from April 2015 - statutory adoption pay.
Thanks
Comment by David Marshall posted on
Hello Amanda, thanks for your question. Statutory Shared parental Pay will not be enhanced to 90% of salary but will be paid at the flat rate of £138.18 a week (or 90% of salary if this is lower). Statutory Maternity Pay will continue to be paid at 90% of salary for 6 weeks and from April 2015 Statutory Adoption Pay will be enhanced to 90% of salary for 6 weeks, bringing it into line with Statutory Maternity Pay.
Comment by RB posted on
If employers offer women enhanced occupational maternity leave but not men won't this defeat the purpose of the legislation? Are employers at risk of sex discrimination claims if they offer women enhanced occupational maternity leave but only offer men statutory shared parental leave?
Comment by David Marshall posted on
Hello Rachel, thanks for your questions. Employers do not need to extend occupational maternity schemes to men taking shared parental leave. Although they are free to do so if they wish.
Maternity leave is a protected period, and companies are able to offer maternity benefits to women only, when they are on maternity leave. Where employers wish to offer a maternity scheme of a fixed length to those on maternity leave, as many do currently, they will continue to be able to do so. The ability to offer such schemes to women on maternity leave will be unaffected by the ability of a woman to reduce the length of her maternity leave in order to allow access to shared parental leave.
Comment by Lynsey posted on
So to clarify, I can take 2-4 weeks maternity and then my husband can take the rest of the leave?
Comment by David Marshall posted on
Hi Lynsey, thanks for your message. Providing both you and your partner meet the eligibility requirements, yes, you would be able to share the remaining leave and pay. You can find out if you are eligible on this page: http://bit.ly/1u0xVdU. There is a list of bullets or a calculator you can use.