How does Shared Parental Leave pay work for both parents?

Full answer

Shared Parental Leave (SPL) gives eligible parents flexibility to divide leave and pay between them, rather than one parent (usually the mother) taking the whole entitlement alone, but the rules and eligibility conditions are more complex than standard maternity or paternity leave. **How much leave and pay can be shared** After the mother (or primary adopter) takes the compulsory first two weeks following birth (four weeks for some factory workers), up to 50 weeks of the remaining leave and up to 37 weeks of pay can be shared between both parents, in any combination -- taken together at the same time, separately in blocks, or a mixture, as agreed with both employers. **The statutory pay rate** Statutory Shared Parental Pay for 2026/27 is £192.40 a week, or 90% of average weekly earnings if that figure is lower -- this is broadly the same weekly rate as the lower rate of Statutory Maternity Pay and Statutory Paternity Pay, and is paid by each parent's own employer for the weeks of SPL they personally take. **Eligibility conditions -- both parents involved** Both parents must meet employment and earnings tests: the mother must be eligible for (or have ended) Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance, both parents need to meet a continuity of employment test (usually 26 weeks' service by a set qualifying week) for the parent taking SPL, and the other parent must meet a minimum employment and earnings test over the relevant period even if they are not personally taking SPL themselves, since SPL is a shared family entitlement, not an individual one. **Worked example** A mother takes the first 12 weeks of maternity leave and pay after birth, then returns to work. Her partner then takes 20 weeks of Shared Parental Leave, receiving £192.40 a week in statutory pay for those weeks (or 90% of their average weekly earnings if lower), while the mother has ended her maternity leave and returned to her job. Alternatively, both parents could choose to take some overlapping weeks of leave together, splitting the total pool of weeks and pay however suits their household. **Notice requirements** Parents must give their employers at least 8 weeks' notice of their SPL leave pattern, and can request changes to the pattern (though employers do not have to agree to every subsequent change, only the first request in some circumstances) -- this makes SPL less flexible in practice than it may first appear, since last-minute changes are not guaranteed to be accommodated. **Why take-up has remained low** Despite existing since 2015, SPL take-up has remained relatively low nationally, partly because many employers offer enhanced (above statutory) maternity pay but only statutory-level shared parental pay, creating a financial disincentive for the second parent to take leave instead of the mother continuing hers, and partly due to continued lack of awareness of the scheme among both employees and employers. **Practical tip** Check both parents' individual employers' enhanced leave and pay policies carefully before deciding how to split leave, since an employer offering enhanced maternity pay but only statutory Shared Parental Pay can make it financially better for the mother to use more of her own enhanced maternity entitlement rather than transferring weeks to a partner receiving only the lower statutory rate.

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