Overview

Employees may be able to get Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) if they’ve had a baby or adopted a child.

This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).

Employees can start SPL if they’re eligible and they or their partner end their maternity or adoption leave or pay early. The remaining leave will be available as SPL. The remaining pay may be available as ShPP.

Employees can take SPL in up to 3 separate blocks of leave. They can also share the leave with their partner if they’re also eligible. Parents can choose how much of the SPL each of them will take.

Example

A mother and her partner are both eligible for SPL and ShPP. The mother ends her maternity leave and pay after 12 weeks, leaving 40 weeks available for SPL and 27 weeks available for ShPP. The parents can choose how to split this.

SPL and ShPP must be taken between the baby’s birth and first birthday (or within 1 year of adoption).

SPL and ShPP are only available in England, Scotland and Wales.