weeks’ notice of their eligibility to take shared parental leave and will need to include a non-binding indication at the outset of when they expect to take the leave The parents can change their minds as long as they give at least 8 weeks’ notice of absence. When a woman gives notice to end her maternity leave on a specified date and she and/or her partner has notified their employer that they are eligible and plan to take SPL and/or ShPP (ie submitted a ShPL1 form) then the mother's notice to curtail her maternity leave on the date specified is binding. She does not necessarily have to return to work on that date. She may stay off on SPL if she is eligible or be absent from work on some other kind of leave. But her maternity leave and pay period will end on the date specified in her binding notice of curtailment There are certain circumstances in which a woman who has given binding notice to curtail her mat leave and/or pay can revoke her notice: o If the mother has submitted her notice before the birth she has up to 6 weeks after the birth to change her mind. This applies to birth mothers not adopters. Where her partner has already started taking SPL and/or ShPP the entitlement stops. However, as with APL an employer may require the partner to stay off work on unpaid SPL for 8 weeks. The maternity leave is restored to 52 weeks and pay to 39 weeks; o Where the couple have opted into SPL but the mother has not yet returned to work and her partner dies she may revoke her notice to end her maternity leave and stay on maternity leave and pay. Any SPL or ShPP taken by the partner is disregarded and maternity leave and pay is restored in full. This applies to birth parents and adopters; o If the parents discover during the 8 week notice period that they do not meet the eligibility criteria for SPL, then the mother will continue with maternity leave and the father will not be eligible for anything other than his paternity leave. Leave must be taken in blocks of no less than a week (a week is defined as "any period of seven days" which is the same as that applying to additional paternity leave). Both parents can be on SPL together, though obviously if they are off together for 1 week, then that reduces the balance by 2 weeks. If both parents submit their suggested leave patterns to their employers, each employer has 2 weeks in which to agree or disagree. If disagreement, the parents must reconvene to decide on alternative plans and re-submit to employers. An employer can refuse the employee’s suggested leave patterns, however, if no agreement can be reached, each employee must take their SPL in one continuous block, but of a date of the employee’s choosing.
Timetable
The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills hope to lay the Bill before Parliament in April 2014. Although SPL applies to babies born after 6 April 2015, it needs to be in force 2014/15 to allow for premature babies.
A copy of the government response and the administration consultation document can be found on the GOV.UK website .
CIPP comment
CIPP Policy News Journal
16/04/2014, Page 228 of 519
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