Shared Parental Leave (SPL) was designed to provide parents greater flexibility in managing the way they care for their child. When executed well, SPL empowers employees and creates a positive working environment. However, in practice, Shared Parental Leave and Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) can become convoluted, complex and stressful for parents trying to balance family and work commitments, and difficult to administer and manage for employers.
This guide navigates the complexities of SPL and ShPP, the documentation and processes required, and the common pitfalls faced by payroll teams.
The key differences between Shared Parental Leave and Shared Parental Pay
Shared Parental Leave
SPL provides employees with a flexible way to manage their parental leave up to a maximum of 50 weeks (52 weeks’ maternity leave minus the obligatory two weeks the primary carer must take). Under SPL, the primary carer (the mother or principal adopter) can choose to end statutory maternity leave early and share the remainder with their partner. The organisation should assess eligibility and then work with the employee to ensure the notice periods, documentation and assessments are correctly completed before provisioning the shared leave.
Shared Parental Pay
Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) is the statutory pay associated with the SPL. It offers up to 37 weeks of statutory pay at £187.18 a week or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings (2025). Both parents must meet the eligibility criteria laid out below and provide the necessary notices and forms before acceptance. If a parent ends their agreed leave early and returns to work, then ShPP also ends in line with their return, regardless of any weeks of SPL still outstanding.
We have significant expertise in Shared Parental Pay and will provide valuable support to your HR and remuneration teams. Click here to find out more.
Who is eligible for SPL and ShPP?
There are formal definitions of qualification for each parental role when determining SPL and ShPP.
- Working with their employers for a continuous period of 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before birth (for adoption/surrogates, see below).
- Have the principal responsibility for childcare (alongside the other parent).
- Provided the correct notice period.
- Provided the correct documentation (MAT1B form).
- Must be legally classed as an employee. Information about “workers” is below.
- Must still be working for this employer a week before each block of leave begins.
- Must earn at least £125 a week for 8 weeks before the 15th week of expected birth or adoption.
For more information on eligibility for maternity leave, statutory maternity pay and the Alabaster Ruling, please see our recent article here.
Eligibility and the other parent
To qualify for Shared Parental Leave and ShPP, there must be two parents. There is also an eligibility test that must be met before SPL or Shared Parental Pay can be accepted and processed.
The other parent must:
- Meet the 26-week employment criteria with their current employer.
- Must have earned at least £390 in total across any 13 weeks in the 66 weeks before the baby’s due date. These do not need to be in consecutive weeks.
- Must stay with the same employer until the start of Shared Parental Leave.
Other considerations for eligibility
The difference between birth parents and adopters or parents using a surrogate
There are some slight variations to the eligibility rules if employees are becoming parents either through adoption or via a surrogate. Parents using a surrogate have the closest similarity to birth mothers, with parents requiring the birth date of the child and then using that due date to calculate the 15th week before, as per eligibility for birth parents.
For parents adopting a child, they must be continuously employed for at least 26 weeks by the end of the week they are matched with a child they’re adopting.
The difference between being classed as a worker and an employee
A key difference between Shared Parental Leave and ShPP is that parents who are classified by their employers as “workers” rather than employees will still be able to share ShPP (eligibility rules still apply) but will not be able to take Shared Parental Leave.
As an employer, before agreeing to SPL, check the status of the worker/employee. This applies to both parents, so employers need to ensure they have evidence for all parties before accepting SPL requests.
We can help with all aspects of Shared Parental Pay, and the criteria required.
Step 1: employee gives notices
The employee is required to give notice that they wish to end their maternity or adoption leave. This is called a “notice of curtailment” and notifies that the employee wishes to end maternity or adoption leave at a date in the future. This can be revoked or changed if the revocation is given up to 6 weeks before the baby’s birth or adoption, the other parent dies, or both parents fail the eligibility criteria.
Following a notice of curtailment, the employee must provide a “notice of entitlement”. This should provide the following information:
- How much maternity entitlement has been used
- How much Statutory Maternity Pay has been taken and how much remains
- How much leave each parent wants to take
- The start and end dates for leave
- A signed declaration from the other parent that confirms they are a parent, meet eligibility criteria and agree to the shared leave and pay.
A parent is classed as a partner who lives with the principal carer and the child in a familial relationship but is not another child, or an immediate relative such as grandparent or uncle.
Following notices being given, the employer should respond to formally acknowledge receipt of the notices as evidence of entitlement.
MSP Payroll can support your teams with notices and administering Shared Parental Pay – click here to find out more.
Step 2: checking eligibility for shared parental pay
The employer should now review the notices and check their eligibility (for example, the continuity of employment test) against the criteria listed here.
The teams must ensure that both parents meet the criteria and, where necessary, request evidence to support the employee’s claim.
Once both parents are deemed eligible, the employer should write to their employee to confirm approval for SPL and ShPP.
MSP Payroll are expert at managing employee eligibility. Speak to us to find out more.
Step 3: employee arranges leave
The employee must provide their employer with 8 weeks’ booking notice each time they want to take leave as part of their SPL. These are organised in “blocks” and each employee can provide three notices for blocks of leave, or notice to vary leave (these count as 1 notice).
Payroll teams need to keep abreast of the leave notices or changes to leave notice, as employees will be returning to work, while their partner takes SPL in between those blocks.
Most employees will wish to take continuous leave and will submit a full block of time away from work. This is relatively simple, with the employee returning to work after their continuous leave has ended. However, some employees will require discontinuous leave, and this can cause confusion or inaccuracy, as in between each period of leave, the employee is returning to work full time and therefore, full pay. It is also important to note that employers cannot refuse continuous leave requests.
If employees submit leave requests that are continuous but in blocks, then the employee must accept these. For example, a parent wishes to take three phases of leave during the SPL period, this takes the form of a block of 5 weeks, a block of 15 weeks and a block of 3 weeks, with the other parent taking the remainder of the SPL entitlement around these dates. These are continuous blocks, and the employee has used their allocation of three notices; the employer must accept this request. Payroll teams will need to be aware that in between these blocks, the employee will be at work full time and earning their normal salary.
Any changes to leave dates are considered as one of the three notices allowed for each employee. Employers can choose to allow more than three, but should make the parents aware that constantly altering leave dates will likely result in inaccurate pay and difficulties in processing payroll efficiently.
A discontinuous request for leave differs because it will not cover one block of leave per request. It could be a weekly rotation with one week away and one week back at work until the entitlement has been used up. The employer does not have to accept this, but must come to an agreement with the employee within 14 calendar days of being given notice. If an agreement can’t be reached, then the employee can retract notice or submit a continuous block.
For payroll teams, discontinuous leave can be complicated and requires careful planning and close administration, particularly if changes to leave are submitted in the interim. Shared Parental Pay and normal earnings will need to be double-checked to ensure accuracy.
Payroll services should also account for the accrual of holiday during Shared Parental Leave. This builds up as normal, and if an employee takes holiday during their SPL, then this should be paid at their normal salary rate.
MSP Payroll can support your team with calculations on salary during and in between SPL leave dates. We will ensure your employees are paid accurately every time. Contact us here.
How to calculate Shared Parental Pay accurately
Shared Parental Pay is paid at whichever is lower between £187.18 per week or 90% of the parent taking the leave. Average weekly earnings are calculated using the 8-week rule as explained in our accompanying article on The Alabaster Ruling.
This is similar to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), except for the difference in the first 6 weeks, where SMP is paid at 90% of average weekly earnings with no maximum level. As there are two weeks of obligatory maternity leave required for the employee (or four weeks if they work in a factory), understanding where SMP ends and ShPP starts is crucial for accurate pay.
For example:
An employee earns £49,400 gross salary per year, or £950 per week. They decide to take 10 weeks of statutory maternity leave before switching to SPL and Shared Parental Pay. This means they must be paid the following:
- Up to Week 6
- Statutory Maternity Pay at 90% of average weekly earnings = £855 per week
- Week 6-10
- Statutory Maternity Pay at £187.18 per week
- Week 11-39
- Shared Parental Pay for 29 weeks at £187.18 per week
- Week 40 to 52
- No pay, Shared Parental Leave up to week 50
In this example, we can see that the employee and their partner have ended their maternity leave at week 10, leaving 40 weeks remaining to be taken as Shared Parental Leave. They have also taken 10 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay, switching to Shared Parental Pay at week 11. Shared Parental Pay allows for 37 weeks of pay to be shared between partners. In this example, we can see the employee has had 10 weeks (12 including obligatory time) and so 29 weeks remain of her ShPP. Any time taken after this point receives no pay unless it is holiday, KIT or SPLIT days.
MSP Payroll can calculate SMP and ShPP for your employees. Speak to us here to find out more.
The common pitfalls of Shared Parental Leave and Pay
Cross-Functional communication
The most common pitfall faced by Payroll teams when processing ShPP centres on poor departmental communications and missed notices or key updates regarding employees. Where central HR department support doesn’t exist, often it will be line managers (such as sales or finance) who will handle the notices and paperwork regarding their direct reports. Notices that aren’t passed on to HR or Payroll will often result in inaccuracies, undue waiting times and poor employee satisfaction.
Increasing awareness and training for line managers, plus providing easy means of communication between departments, through HR portals, intranets, and team visibility will improve cross-functional relationships. This will reduce inaccuracies and prevent poor employee interactions or the risk of non-compliance.
Calculating payroll accurately
Building the correct SMP, ShPP, holiday dates and KIT days into an employee’s Payroll schedule is complex enough, but managing blocks of leave, particularly when discontinuous, adds to the minefield. Working closely with your employee, agreeing on dates and notices ahead of schedule and working with expert Payroll services providers such as MSP Payroll can help eliminate errors and create a robust, accurate pay schedule for employees.
SPLIT days
SPLIT days (Shared Parental Leave in Touch) are up to 20 optional workdays that employees can take while on SPL. A SPLIT day doesn’t bring their leave period to an end and is in addition to their 10 available Keep In Touch (KIT) days during their maternity leave. SPLIT days are voluntary, payment is agreed between the employer and employee, and they do not reduce SPL or ShPP allowances.
Any work carried out by an employee during an agreed SPLIT day, whether it is one hour or one day, counts as one full SPLIT day at the agreed daily rate of pay. Salaries must be above the national minimum wage.
Payroll teams should ensure they work closely with line managers, HR partners and the employees to keep a track of all planned KIT and SPLIT days, and log them in the pay schedule for that employee.
How can MSP Payroll support your business?
MSP Payroll provide expert Payroll Services, including a comprehensive approach to statutory payments for parents.
Our services cover:
- Maternity pay, Paternity pay and Shared Parental Leave payments
- Statutory Sick Pay
- Correct deductions from statutory payments such as tax, NIC, pensions, etc.
- Calculating ShPP payments and ensuring notices and requirements are fulfilled
- Payroll including SPLIT and KIT days, holiday days and changes to leave calculations
We provide seamless Payroll services for your organisation, increasing employee satisfaction while reducing the impact on internal resources and the cost of inaccuracies.
Speak to us today to find out more.
Shared Parental Leave and Pay: frequently asked questions
Can employees change their leave plan?
Employees can submit up to three requests to change their leave plans. Each request should be given with an 8-week notice period and should be shared with Payroll teams immediately so pay schedules can be adjusted accordingly.
Are both parents paid Shared Parental Pay at the same time?
ShPP is paid to the parent who is taking leave during that pay period. If a discontinuous leave has been accepted, then the parent who is caring for the child receives the Shared Parental Leave and the parent returning to work receives their normal salary, and vice versa when they swap.
If parents both take leave at the same time, for example for a week, then SPL is reduced per week each parent takes. In this example, if both parents take a week off simultaneously then this counts as two weeks from their available entitlement. This means they are paid at the same time in this instance.
What documentation is required for Payroll?
The Payroll team should receive the employee’s notice and declaration of SPL and ShPP, plus the employer’s acceptance of their request. They should also be included in all correspondence regarding blocks of continuous leave, changes or notifications to leave requests and agreements to discontinuous leave.
Payroll will need to confirm with the employee when their Maternity Leave ends and SPL begins. Return to work dates and KIT days should also be agreed beforehand to ensure accurate payments.
Any holiday requests should also be notified to the Payroll teams.
Payroll will require evidence of average earnings and Payroll history, and also any confirmation of SPL/ShPP already taken.