Friday 13 December 2013

Shared Parental Leave


How will the new rules work?
It has now been confirmed that from April 2015, new mothers will be able to share leave arrangements with their partner to care for a new born child. In order to do this, new mothers will need to end their maternity leave early and will be able to convert the balance of that leave into shared parental leave (SPL). This will allow families much more flexibility to take leave from work in the early part of their child’s life.

Shared parental leave will allow eligible partners to be absent from work to care for a child for a maximum of 52 weeks. Whilst new mothers will still be entitled to two weeks off after giving birth, the remaining 50 weeks of paid maternity leave can be split between both parents in order to share the responsibilities for the upbringing of the child.

A couple will be able to take leave together, the mother could return to work and transfer the balance of her maternity leave to her partner or the couple could even take leave in turns during block periods, if their employer will agree to this. As an employer you will not be able to refuse leave, but you will be able to refuse discontinuous blocks of leave if they will not be suitable for the business. For instance if an employee requests two four week periods, you can insist that they are taken together as one eight week period to minimise disruption to your organisation.

New parents will need to be upfront with employers if they decide to opt in to SPL. They will need to inform their employer how they intend to use their leave and although this will not be binding, it should make employers initially aware of the situation. They will be required to give eight weeks’ notice to take specific periods of leave or make changes to previous arrangements. They will also only be entitled to make 3 requests for SPL or changes to the leave.

 Won’t this be confusing for employers?
There are notice periods built in so that employers can plan. The rules state that workers have to give a non-binding indication of when they expect to take their allocated leave when they initially inform their employer that they intend to take shared parental leave.

With any maternity and paternity leave, they will have to give notice at the end of the 15th week before the expected week of child birth, or within seven days of a child being matched if they are adopting.

Within the 52-week period, workers will have to give at least eight weeks notice of the start date of their leave.

They will only be able to take three separate sets of leave, or make three changes to the dates they plan to do so, during the 52 weeks, unless otherwise agreed with their Employer.

 Keeping In Touch (KIT) Days
Each parent will be entitled to have up to 20 ‘Keeping in Touch Days’ whilst on shared parental leave and it’s important to note that this is in addition to the 10 KIT days that a new mother is entitled to during her maternity leave.

 Return to Work
Any employee returning to work after maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave will have the right to return to the same job providing that the leave totals 26 weeks or less. This applies to workers that have taken leave in discontinuous blocks.

 Why is this happening?
The change is designed to‘challenge the old-fashioned assumption that women will always be the parent that stays at home’.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: “Women deserve the right to pursue their goals and not feel they have to choose between having a successful career or having a baby. They should be supported by their employers, rather than being made to feel less employable or under pressure to take unchallenging jobs.”

“It is already illegal to sack a woman because she is pregnant or on maternity leave, but we want to go further than that. We want to create a fairer society that gives parents the flexibility to choose how they share care for their child in the first year after birth.”

 Business Reaction to shared parental leave plans
There has been a mixed response from industry and business leaders to the Government proposals:

Mike Emmott, employee relations adviser at the CIPD, said the proposals will allow mothers and fathers “significant flexibility to come up with arrangements for shared parental leave that match their particular circumstances”.

Neil Carberry, director of employment and skills at the CBI, said: “We are pleased that the Government has listened to firms’ concerns about being able to plan effectively around parental leave”.

“Businesses want to support parents and need a workable and straightforward system so they can do so.”

Tim Thomas, head of employment and skills policy at the manufacturers’ organisation EEF, said: “Limiting the number of change requests, encouraging employees to give upfront notification of their leave plans and giving employers the option to ask for leave to be taken in a continuous block will ensure that shared parental leave works for both businesses and parents.”

“However, we are still concerned by proposals on the right to return to the same job, as employees’ roles can change frequently when companies need to make significant changes to their business.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Unless it is backed up with better pay, many couples simply won’t be able to afford to take it. The Government’s own estimates suggest that just one in 20 dads would be able to afford to take shared parental leave if it was paid at the current statutory rate of just £137 per week.”

“By failing to give parents the right to return to the same job after six months, the Government has also missed an opportunity to prevent a constant source of pregnancy discrimination, where mums returning to work find that their job has changed.”

“The proposal will create confusion for employers and be a source of anxiety for women who decide to take more than six months of pregnancy leave.”

The Tamar HR View
We look forward to receiving further detail about these proposals so that we can help clients plan and implement the changes in 2015. Further information is due to be published in early 2014 and we can then begin thinking in more detail about how these changes will be implemented in your company.

In our experience working with clients, there is already a progressive and positive range of practice to support working parents with their caring responsibilities outside of work. This enables business to retain essential skills and talent which might otherwise be lost if such flexibility did not exist. Of course, any system needs to carefully balance the needs of the working parents with that of the wider business.

We believe the early ‘up front’ notification requirements are a positive step so that businesses can plan in plenty of time for Shared Parental Leave requests. Limiting the number of change requests, and requiring any leave to be taken in continuous blocks should assist employers in covering for workers who are absent, having exercised their right to take Shared Parental Leave.

If you would like to know more about shared parental leave, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the team here at Tamar HR.

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