4.4
If your partner is taking adoption leave and/or claiming SAP, you may be entitled to two weeks' paternity leave and pay (see our Paternity Leave Policy). You should consider using this before taking SPL. Paternity leave is additional to any SPL entitlement you may have, but you will lose any untaken paternity leave entitlement once you start a period of SPL. The total amount of SPL available is 52 weeks, less the weeks of adoption leave taken by either you or partner (or the weeks in which your partner has been in receipt of SAP if they were not entitled to adoption leave).
4.5
5.
OPTING IN TO SHARED PARENTAL LEAVE AND PAY
5.1
Not less than eight weeks before the date you intend your SPL to start, you must give us a written opt-in notice which includes:
(a) your name and your partner's name;
(b) if you are taking adoption leave, your adoption leave start and end dates;
(c) if you are not taking adoption leave, your partner's adoption leave start and end dates, or if your partner is not entitled to adoption leave, the start and end dates of their SAP;
(d) the total SPL available, which is 52 weeks minus the number of weeks' adoption leave or SAP taken or to be taken by you or your partner;
(e) how many weeks of the available SPL will be allocated to you and how many to your partner (you can change the allocation by giving us a further written notice, and you do not have to use your full allocation); (f) if you are claiming statutory shared parental pay (ShPP), the total ShPP available, which is 39 weeks minus the number of weeks of SAP taken or to be taken); (g) how many weeks of the available ShPP will be allocated to you and how many to your partner (you can change the allocation by giving us a further written notice, and you do not have to use your full allocation); (h) an indication of the pattern of leave you are thinking of taking, including suggested start and end dates for each period of leave (see paragraph 9 and paragraph 10 for information on taking leave). This indication will not be binding at this stage, but please give as much information as you can about your future intentions; and
(i) declarations by you and your partner that you both meet the statutory conditions to enable you to take SPL and ShPP.
6.
ENDING YOUR ADOPTION LEAVE
6.1
If you are taking or intend to take adoption leave and want to opt into the SPL scheme, you must give us at least eight weeks' written notice to end your adoption leave (a curtailment notice). The notice must state the date your adoption leave will end. You can give the notice before or after adoption leave starts, but you must take at least two weeks' adoption leave. You must also give us, at the same time as the curtailment notice, a notice to opt into the SPL scheme (see paragraph 5) or a written declaration that your partner has given their employer an opt-in notice and that you have given the necessary declarations in that notice.
6.2
6.3
If your partner is eligible to take SPL from their employer they cannot start it until you have given us your curtailment notice.
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