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

This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).

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 use SPL 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 get SPL and ShPP, you and your partner need to:

Giving up maternity and adoption leave and pay

To get SPL and ShPP you or your partner has to:

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

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 of SPL and 17 weeks of ShPP with your partner.