An employee is eligible if they are:

• The mother/primary adopter; or
• The father of the child; or
• The spouse, civil partner or partner of the child’s mother/primary adopter.

A member of staff is entitled to parental leave if he/she has a child who is under 18 and is:

• Is the parent (named on the birth or adoption certificate) of the child; or
• Has adopted a child who is under 18 years of age; or
• Has acquired legal responsibility for the child.
• They share the main responsibility for the care of their child with their partner;
• Have completed 26 weeks continuous service by the end of the 15th week before childbirth or end of week they were notified of match with a child;
• They will still be employed the week before leave is taken;
• They or their partner is entitled to Statutory Maternity Leave/Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance or to Statutory Adoption Leave/Statutory Adoption Pay and have curtailed this entitlement.
• Employees partner must also satisfy the work and earnings requirement – see policy for details

Shared Parental Leave can begin once the employee, or their partner has taken compulsory maternity/adoptive leave (at least 2 weeks) and they have curtailed their entitlement to Maternity or Adoption Leave by providing at least 8 weeks notice to their employer.

• Minimum amount is one week, maximum is 50 weeks. First 2 weeks can’t be shared
• SPL must be taken in multiples of complete weeks.
• There can be a maximum of 3 occasions
• Partners can take it at same time
• Amount of SPL that can be taken depends on amount of SML/SAL already taken.

Up to 37 weeks Statutory Shared Parental Pay is potentially available for parents to share between them. (39 minus compulsory 2 weeks maternity/adoptive leave).

To apply, employees must inform the university at least 8 weeks before the start date. The Child’s mother must fill in a curtailment notice and the Employee must provide a copy of the birth certificate.

Various Application forms SPL1,2,3 and 4 can be obtained from the Worklife Balance Policies Webpage.