New legislation is soon to come into effect that will turn traditional maternity leave on its head by enabling both parents to share time away from the office between them. Alex Clements explains how the scheme will work
It has long been the complaint of some less enlightened bosses that there is little merit in employing young women as they โwill only go off and take maternity leaveโ. However, new legislation is on the way that may challenge even the most dinosaur of bosses and hopefully help share the workload between parents during a babyโs first year.
At present, employed mothers are entitled to take 52 weeks of maternity leave and to receive 39 weeks of statutory maternity pay (although some employers offer more generous schemes). New fathers have the right to a minimum of two weeks paternity leave.
However, this structure doesnโt really reflect the realities of modern parenting โ more and more women are the major earner in a family and many more fathers expect to be involved in the day-to-day practicalities of bringing up their children. There was a limited attempt to address this in April 2011, when regulations came in that allow women to return to work once their child is 20 weeks old, and for the father to use the remainder of the leave. The scheme has not been well advertised, however, and take up has been limited.
For the parents of babies born on or after 5 April 2015, there should be much more flexibility in how parents manage the care during the first year of their childโs life. If they so wish, women will still be able to take the whole 52-week period as maternity leave. It is currently the case that no woman may return to work within a two-week period of giving birth and this will remain in force after next year. After that initial two-week period though, a woman can choose to end her maternity leave and then it is up to the parents to decide how to use the remainder of the time โ they can either be on leave together, or take it in turns to use blocks of leave. This is a right that the mother can share with either the biological father or her partner (including a same-sex partner) with whom she shares the childcare responsibilities.
There are certain eligibility criteria: one parent must have worked for the same employer for at least 26 weeks at the 15th week before the baby is due (as is currently the case for maternity leave) while the other must have worked for 26 weeks in the 66 weeks leading up to the due date. In addition, in order to qualify for maternity pay, the parent taking leave must have earned at least enough to pay national insurance contributions when averaged over the eight weeks leading up to the 15th week before the due date.
Parents wishing to opt for shared parental leave should give their employer at least eight weeksโ notice of their intention to do so. Each eligible employee can give his or her employer up to three separate notices. Each notice can be either for a block of leave or for a pattern of discontinuous leave involving different periods of time (perhaps alternating the leave with their partner). Employers are entitled to refuse requests for discontinuous leave and can insist that leave is taken in one block.
Clearly, this could all cause some headache for employers. Leave taken in discontinuous weeks could make work planning problematic, not to mention the difficulty of trying to co-ordinate leave between two different employers. However, with early and regular communication, there is no reason why this new regime canโt be a real boon for all working parents.
Alex Clements is a partner at law firm Schofield Sweeney, specialising in all aspects of employment law with a particular interest in discrimination issues. For more information visit schofieldsweeney.co.uk
