How Shared Parental Leave works: a guide for employers and parents

Shared Parental Leave (SPL) is one of the most misunderstood family leave regimes. It is not an extra entitlement on top of maternity leave, and it is not a top-up to the birth parent's pay. It is a mechanism that lets the birth parent or main adopter end their maternity or adoption leave early and convert the unused balance into a pool that can be shared with their partner. This guide explains the framework so you can advise an employee, design a policy, or train a line manager.

What SPL is

SPL is up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP), drawn from whatever maternity or adoption leave and pay the birth parent or main adopter does not use. Both parents can take SPL at the same time, or in alternating blocks, in the first year after birth or placement.

What SPL is not

• It is not a separate entitlement. Every week of SPL is a week of maternity or adoption leave that has been given up.
• It is not a pay enhancement. ShPP is paid at the same statutory weekly rate as Statutory Maternity Pay after the first 6 weeks - there is no 90% earnings band.
• It does not extend the 52-week leave window. The total available to the family is still 52 weeks.
• It is not available during the first 2 weeks after birth. Compulsory maternity leave (4 weeks for factory workers) cannot be curtailed.

The curtailment-and-conversion mechanic

SPL exists in three steps: curtailment, notification, and booking.

1. Curtailment. The birth parent or main adopter gives a binding written notice ending their maternity or adoption leave on a future Saturday at least one day after the compulsory leave period ends. Once given, the notice locks in - it can only be withdrawn on three narrow grounds (discovery of ineligibility, partner's death, or withdrawal within six weeks of the first PLN if no leave has started).
2. Notification. Each parent who wants SPL gives their employer a Notice of Entitlement and Intention (NoE) at least 8 weeks before their first period of leave. The NoE sets out totals and a non-binding indication of when leave will be taken.
3. Booking. Each parent then gives Period-of-Leave Notices (PLNs) at least 8 weeks before each block of leave starts.

Eligibility for both parents

SPL has a two-sided eligibility test. The parent taking SPL needs the standard employee test: 26 weeks' continuous service by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth or matching week, and continued employment when the leave starts. The partner needs an employment-and-earnings test: 26 weeks of employment (employed or self-employed) in the 66 weeks before the expected week of childbirth, with average earnings of at least the lower earnings limit equivalent in 13 of those 66 weeks.

The partner test is independent of the partner's current employment. A partner who has just left a job, or who is self-employed, can still meet it if the past 66-week record qualifies.

The notice architecture and the 3-notice cap

Each parent may give a maximum of three PLNs across their entire SPL. Variations to a previously booked block, and cancellations, count toward the cap. A combined NoE-and-PLN counts as a single notice. Once the cap is exhausted, no further changes are possible unless the employer agrees.

You may refuse a discontinuous block (two or more separate periods in one PLN), or propose alternative dates, within 14 days of receiving the notice. If you do not respond, the notice defaults to a single continuous block starting on the first date requested. A continuous block cannot be refused.

Pay, recovery and the interaction with Statutory Maternity Pay

ShPP is paid at the standard statutory weekly rate or 90% of average weekly earnings if lower - the same rate as Statutory Maternity Pay weeks 7 to 39. There is no equivalent of the SMP first-6-weeks 90% band: that is part of maternity pay and is lost if the birth parent curtails before week 7. Employers reclaim ShPP via the Employer Payment Summary at the standard recovery rate, or the higher Small Employers' Relief rate if the previous tax year's Class 1 NICs were below the relief threshold.

Interaction with paternity leave: the 6 April 2026 change

Until April 2026, an employee who took any SPL was barred from taking statutory paternity leave for the same child. The Employment Rights Act 2025 removes this bar with effect from 6 April 2026, allowing an employee to take statutory paternity leave even after taking SPL, provided the paternity leave is taken in the 52-week window. This unblocks a common planning trap: parents who took a short SPL block to cover the birth period can now still take the statutory 2-week paternity leave separately.

Redundancy protection and detriment

Section 99 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 makes dismissal automatically unfair if the reason or principal reason is connected with SPL. The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 extends the priority right to suitable alternative employment in a redundancy to cover up to 18 months from birth or placement for parents who have taken at least 6 consecutive weeks of SPL.

SPLIT days

Shared Parental Leave In Touch (SPLIT) days let each parent work up to 20 days during SPL without ending the leave. SPLIT days are by mutual agreement and are paid at a rate the parties agree.