What is shared parental leave?
Shared parental leave is a new legal entitlement for parents (by birth or adoption) who meet certain eligibility requirements and is designed to provide parents with the opportunity to share parental leave to work out the best arrangement for the care of the child in their first year of life.
The new entitlements are contained in the Children and Families Act 2014, which amends Part 8 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, and in regulations that came into force on 1 December: the Shared Parental Leave Regulations 2014.
Under these new legal provisions, mothers will still take the initial two weeks of leave after a baby is born, but after this time, parents will be able to share the remaining leave in the baby's first year. The amount of leave available will be in accordance with the mother's entitlement to maternity/adoption leave, which is 52 weeks' leave (39 of which attract statutory maternity pay). Shared parental leave allows the mother to reduce this period of leave and allows her partner to take any remaining leave as shared parental leave.
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