Shared parental leave frequently asked questions

Yes, particularly if you want to take separate blocks of SPL.

No, each employee has to confirm they are eligible to their employer. You will need to provide the name and address of your partner’s employer to University Payroll.

We hope that with informal discussions, your proposal will be agreed before you submit the form for sign off.  If your manager is unable to agree to your proposal, you and your partner will need to reconsider and withdraw your notice to book within 2 weeks.  It may be that the only option acceptable to your manager is continuous SPL, due to cover arrangements.

Please note both employers have to agree to your proposal. If one employer does not agree, you will need to withdraw your notice to book within 2 weeks and resubmit.

If the mother returns to work before using her 52 weeks’ Maternity Leave entitlement, this will be converted into SPL entitlement and will be available for her or her partner to take at a later date, as long as they give a minimum of 8 weeks’ notice and the manager is agreeable. This will be paid as Shared Parental Pay in accordance with the arrangements detailed above.

You may qualify for SPL but not for ShPP. A mother who did not meet the qualifying criteria for Statutory Maternity Pay cannot qualify for Shared Parental Pay.

The partner can only start SPL when the mother or adopter has ended her Maternity or Adoption Leave, thereby allowing the remainder of the leave to be re classified as SPL. This can happen by either you returning to work or you opting to take SPL.

Once the mother has returned to work, she cannot restart her maternity leave. Any untaken Maternity Leave will be classified as Shared Parental Leave for payroll purposes and the mother must apply with the minimum notice to the department of 8 weeks. If the partner has already started SPL, the employer may require the partner to take unpaid leave, as their entitlement to SPL and ShPP ceases with immediate effect.

The University employee will tell us how much SPL is available to him or her and the other parent. They will also tell us how much leave each of them intends to take and they will give you the written consent of the other parent to the division of the leave. Once it is established how much SPL our employee will take, we will record the cumulative weeks taken as SPL to ensure the entitlement is not exceeded.

As long as you continue to satisfy the qualifying criteria as parents of the child, any change in domestic arrangements will not impact on your entitlement to SPL and ShPP.

Yes, they can if – this means the total leave entitlement will be used up more quickly.

The right to return to the same job will be maintained for returning from any period of relevant statutory leave that includes Maternity, or Paternity, Adoption or Shared Parental Leave that totals 26 weeks or less in aggregate, even if the leave is taken in discontinuous blocks. This will mean that an employee who takes 26 weeks or less of any combination of relevant statutory leave will have the right to return to the same job. Periods of unpaid parental leave of more than four weeks are excluded from the ’26 week calculation’. Once you have taken more than 26 weeks of relevant statutory leave in aggregate (including any combination of maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental leave) then you will have the right to return to the same job or (if this is not practicable) to a suitable alternative job.

No, both mother and partner can be at work at the same time before a period of SPL is taken. Week 52 still marks the end of SPL and weeks worked together during this period are sacrificed and not added on at the end.

Staff who take maternity/adoption/shared parental leave are expected to resume their normal academic duties upon their return. However, the absence may have impacted their career trajectory, making it harder for them to progress in the normal way.

Therefore, any member of staff who has been absent from work for an extended period as a result of family leave should be given the following assistance to help them to re-establish their academic profile:

• All RTE staff who return from extended family leave (maternity, adoption or shared parental leave) in excess of four months to automatically receive a period of time to focus on their research.
• RTE staff returning from extended family leave should receive a period equivalent to four months of term time to help them to re-establish their academic profile. In exceptional circumstances a Dean may agree a longer period. A phased return over a maximum of four weeks may also be agreed.
•  The purpose of this time is to give the employee time to rebuild their research profile following their period of leave. Exact details of activity, e.g. focusing on outputs, funding or other research activities should be agreed between the employee and the Dean and the employee is not expected to carry out any teaching related activity or other associated leadership roles.
• If a member of staff is completing the New Lecturers’ Programme (NLP), this should recommence at the end of the four-month period.  PDRs should take place as normal if the window falls in the four-month period.
• Schools are encouraged to think creatively about how to do this and to avoid the use of casual contracts, e.g. to cover teaching, wherever possible.
• Schools are also required to discuss what support any member of staff might need on return from extended family leave and ensure that this is put into place. A Research Mentor could be allocated if appropriate.  This might be support that is required initially on return or support that is needed on a more ongoing basis.  A record of the discussion and the support provided should be retained by the school and may be audited for best practice.
• Schools may wish to allocate some funding to the member of staff to support them during the four-month period.
• Some objectives for the period should be agreed at the outset but as this is a period of readjustment, it may not always be possible for colleagues to complete the agreed objectives within the agreed timescale.
• This arrangement has been designed to facilitate flexibility for both the Dean and the employee, but there is an explicit requirement that Deans should ensure they are acting within the spirit of the policy at all times.
• Audits and reviews of support for staff returning from extended family leave may take place to monitor the effectiveness of this arrangement in terms of support provided.