Shared Parental Leave UK 2026/27: Tax, Pay and How to Split the Leave

What Is Shared Parental Leave?

Shared Parental Leave was introduced in 2015 to give parents greater flexibility in how they share childcare in the first year after a child is born or adopted. Before SPL, the default was that mothers took most or all of the leave while partners were limited to one or two weeks of paternity leave. SPL changes this: once the mother curtails her maternity leave, the remaining weeks become available as a pool to be divided between both parents in whatever combination suits their family and work arrangements.

SPL applies to births, adoptions and surrogacy. The child must be born or placed for adoption on or after 5 April 2015. The leave must be taken before the child's first birthday (or the first anniversary of an adoption placement). Parents can take leave concurrently -- both off at the same time -- or consecutively, and in up to three separate blocks each.

Eligibility for Shared Parental Leave 2026

Both the mother and the partner must each individually meet eligibility criteria. Failing any one test removes entitlement for that parent (but not necessarily for the other).

The mother (or primary adopter) must:

• Be entitled to statutory maternity leave or Statutory Maternity Pay / Maternity Allowance.
• Have been continuously employed by their employer for at least 26 weeks at the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth (the qualifying week).
• Give their employer notice to curtail maternity leave (or return early).

The partner must:

• Have been employed or self-employed for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before the expected week of childbirth.
• Have earned at least GBP 30 per week (the Lower Earnings Limit) in at least 13 of those 66 weeks.
• Be continuously employed by their employer for at least 26 weeks at the end of the qualifying week.

Both parents must share primary responsibility for the child and must each be employed (or self-employed) at the time the leave is taken. A self-employed person cannot take SPL but may receive Shared Parental Pay if their partner is an employee who qualifies.

The SPL Pool -- 37 Paid and 13 Unpaid Weeks

The total leave pool comes from the mother's 52-week maternity leave entitlement. The first two weeks after birth are compulsory maternity leave (four weeks for factory workers) and cannot be converted to SPL. Once these are subtracted, up to 50 weeks of SPL become available.

If the mother takes, say, 10 weeks of maternity leave before curtailing, then 52 - 10 = 42 weeks remain in the SPL pool. Of these, up to 37 - (10 - 2) = 29 weeks attract ShPP (because she has used 8 of the 39 payable SMP weeks); 13 weeks are unpaid. The earlier the mother curtails, the more paid weeks are available for the SPL pool.

How to Curtail Maternity Leave -- Step by Step

Curtailment is the formal trigger that converts the mother's remaining maternity leave into SPL. Without a valid curtailment notice, neither parent can take SPL.

1. Give a written curtailment notice to the employer specifying the date maternity leave (and SMP) will end. The date must be at least eight weeks after the notice is given, and at least two weeks after birth (or four weeks for factory workers).
2. The curtailment notice is binding. It can only be revoked if the partner dies, the couple separates, or neither parent is eligible for SPL (e.g. the partner loses their job before leave starts).
3. Alternatively, give eight weeks' notice to return early from maternity leave. The partner's SPL cannot start until the mother has either curtailed or returned.
4. Unpaid SMP weeks are lost. If the mother curtails at week 8 and had 39 weeks of SMP entitlement, the remaining 31 weeks of SMP are cancelled -- they do not transfer to the partner as ShPP. The 37 ShPP weeks are recalculated from the mother's SMP start date.

Giving Notice -- What Each Parent Must Tell Their Employer

Each parent gives notice independently to their own employer. The process has two stages:

Stage 1 -- Notice of entitlement and intention: a written statement confirming eligibility (including both parents' names, the child's expected due date, the total SPL and ShPP available, and how much each parent intends to use). This must be given at least eight weeks before the first SPL period.

Stage 2 -- Booking notice: a separate written notice naming the exact start and end dates of the leave block. Each parent may submit up to three booking notices, creating up to three separate blocks of leave. Each booking notice must be given at least eight weeks before the leave starts.

An employer can refuse discontinuous leave (e.g. three separate blocks with gaps in between) if it is not operationally workable, and ask the employee to take it as one continuous block instead. However, employers cannot refuse a valid continuous SPL block once proper notice is given. The employer has 14 days to respond to a booking notice for discontinuous leave.

Statutory Shared Parental Pay -- Rate, Calculation and Reclaim

ShPP for 2026/27 is GBP 194.32 per week or 90% of average weekly earnings (AWE), whichever is lower. AWE is the average weekly earnings over the eight weeks immediately before the qualifying week (the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth).

Employers pay ShPP through payroll and reclaim it from HMRC. Standard employers recover 92% of ShPP paid. Small employers (whose total NI liability in the previous tax year was GBP 45,000 or less) can recover 103% via the Small Employers Relief scheme, effectively receiving a 3% bonus to cover administration costs. Reclaim is made through the employer's payroll software via the Full Payment Submission (FPS) or an Employment Payment Summary (EPS).

How ShPP Is Taxed -- Income Tax and NI

ShPP is treated as employment earnings for all tax purposes. It is subject to income tax under PAYE and to National Insurance contributions exactly as ordinary wages are.

Income tax: the employer collects income tax via the employee's tax code each pay period. If the ShPP of GBP 194.32/week is the employee's only income, the personal allowance of GBP 12,570 is spread across the year at GBP 241.73/week -- which is higher than GBP 194.32. This means most employees pay no income tax on ShPP alone. If the employee has other income (e.g. a second job, rental income, or investment income), tax may be due depending on the tax code in operation.

Employee NI: employee Class 1 NI (8% in 2026/27) applies to weekly earnings above the Primary Threshold of GBP 242/week. Because GBP 194.32 is below GBP 242, no employee NI is payable on ShPP alone. If the employer pays enhanced top-up taking total weekly earnings above GBP 242, NI applies on the excess.

Employer NI: employer Class 1 NI at 15% (above the secondary threshold of GBP 96/week) applies to all cash payments. On GBP 194.32/week ShPP: employer NI = (GBP 194.32 - GBP 96) x 15% = GBP 14.75/week. Employers can recover ShPP payments from HMRC but not the associated employer NI (that is a genuine employer cost).

State Pension credits: weeks on paid ShPP (GBP 194.32/week) exceed the Lower Earnings Limit of GBP 129/week. The employee therefore accrues qualifying years for the new State Pension during paid SPL. During unpaid SPL weeks, no NI credits are earned unless the individual claims Child Benefit (which provides NI credits automatically and at no cost).

Pension Contributions During Shared Parental Leave

The employee's contract of employment continues in full during SPL -- and that means pension rights are preserved. The law (Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Equality Act 2010) requires the employer to continue making employer pension contributions throughout paid SPL at the rate set in the contract or scheme rules, calculated on the employee's normal (pre-leave) salary, not on the reduced ShPP amount.

Worked example: employee earns GBP 48,000/year. Employer contributes 5% = GBP 2,400/year. Employee takes 26 weeks of paid SPL. Employer must continue contributing at 5% of GBP 48,000 for those 26 weeks: GBP 2,400 x (26/52) = GBP 1,200 employer contributions during SPL. The employer cannot reduce this to 5% of ShPP (GBP 194.32 x 5% = GBP 9.72/week = GBP 252/26 weeks) -- that would be unlawful.

Employee contributions during SPL are based on actual pay received. If the employee contributes 5% of earnings, their contribution is 5% of GBP 194.32 = GBP 9.72/week (unless they choose to continue contributing at the pre-leave rate voluntarily).

Auto-enrolment: the employee remains enrolled during SPL. If they were contributing to a qualifying pension scheme before leave, the employer must maintain contributions. The employer cannot opt the employee out during SPL.

Salary sacrifice pension: salary sacrifice arrangements cannot reduce pay below the statutory ShPP minimum of GBP 194.32/week. Most employers suspend or modify salary sacrifice for the duration of paid SPL.

Annual Allowance: the Pension Annual Allowance for 2026/27 is GBP 60,000. Employer contributions paid during SPL count toward the employee's annual allowance. For most employees on ShPP, total pension input during SPL is minimal and well within the allowance.

Unpaid SPL: during the 13 unpaid SPL weeks, employer pension contributions are not required (because only paid leave attracts the continuation obligation). Employees can choose to make personal pension contributions during unpaid leave up to the GBP 60,000 annual allowance or 100% of earnings, whichever is lower.

Employer-Enhanced Shared Parental Pay Policies

The statutory minimum is GBP 194.32/week or 90% AWE. Many employers go further, offering enhanced contractual ShPP to attract and retain talent and to comply with equal treatment obligations.

Common enhanced SPL pay structures include:

• Full pay for the first 4-12 weeks, then ShPP for remaining weeks.
• Half pay for 16-20 weeks, with ShPP topping up to the statutory minimum where needed.
• Matching the maternity pay policy: if enhanced maternity pay is offered (e.g. 26 weeks full pay + 13 weeks half pay), an equivalent SPL policy avoids sex discrimination claims.

Equal treatment requirement: following case law (notably Capita Hartshead v HMRC and subsequent employment tribunal decisions), employers that offer enhanced maternity pay but not equivalent enhanced SPL may face claims of indirect sex discrimination. HMRC's own guidance recommends parity. If a female employee taking maternity leave receives 20 weeks full pay, a male partner taking the same 20 weeks as SPL should also receive 20 weeks full pay under an equitable policy.

All employer-enhanced pay above the statutory ShPP is taxed as employment earnings -- income tax and Class 1 NI (both employee and employer) apply in full to the enhanced element.

SPLIT Days -- Working During Shared Parental Leave

During SPL, each parent can work up to 20 Shared Parental Leave In Touch (SPLIT) days without losing ShPP for that week. SPLIT days are the SPL equivalent of Keeping In Touch (KIT) days used during maternity leave (which allows 10 KIT days).

SPLIT days must be agreed in advance with the employer and can be used for any work purpose -- training, team meetings, project updates. The employee receives normal pay for a SPLIT day; the employer continues to pay ShPP for that week unless the total pay for the week exceeds what would be owed. The 20 SPLIT days are per parent, per SPL period -- the couple together can use up to 40 SPLIT days (20 each) in addition to the mother's 10 KIT days during maternity leave.

Interaction With Paternity Leave

Statutory Paternity Leave and SPL are separate entitlements. A partner can take one or two weeks of paternity leave (within 56 days of birth) and also take SPL weeks -- paternity leave is not deducted from the SPL pool. Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) for 2026/27 is GBP 194.32/week, the same rate as ShPP.

However, the partner cannot take paternity leave and SPL simultaneously. If the partner starts an SPL block during the 56-day paternity window without first taking paternity leave, the remaining unused paternity leave is forfeited. The recommended approach is for the partner to take any paternity leave first (or as a separate block before the first SPL block begins).

Adoption leave: the same SPL framework applies to adoption, with the primary adopter's 52-week adoption leave replaced by the mother's maternity leave in the calculation. Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) is also GBP 194.32/week for 2026/27.

Key Deadlines and Checklist for Parents

• 15th week before due date: complete the eligibility checks; both parents confirm their qualifying employment and earnings.
• By the 15th week before due date: the mother gives the employer the curtailment notice (or a notice to return early) -- must be at least 8 weeks before the first SPL start date.
• At least 8 weeks before first SPL block: each parent gives their employer the Stage 1 (entitlement) notice.
• At least 8 weeks before each SPL block starts: booking notice submitted with exact leave dates.
• During SPL: track SPLIT days (max 20 each), maintain pension records, check Child Benefit claim for NI credits during any unpaid weeks.
• Before returning to work: confirm return date in writing; check rights to return to same or equivalent job (12 weeks or less SPL = right to same job; more than 12 weeks = right to same or suitable alternative).