Shared parental leave and pay

The employee must give you written notice of their entitlement to SPL and ShPP, including:

• their partner's name
• maternity or adoption leave start and end dates
• the total amount of SPL and ShPP available and how much they and their partner intend to take
• that they are sharing childcare responsibility with their partner

It must also include a signed declaration from the partner stating:

• their name, address and National Insurance number
• that they satisfy the qualifying requirements for your employee to take SPL and ShPP
• that they agree to your employee taking SPL and ShPP

After receiving this notice, you can ask for:

• a copy of the child's birth certificate
• the name and address of their partner's employer

You have 14 days to ask for this information. Your employee then has a further 14 days to provide it.

If a birth certificate cannot be produced at first instance, the employee must provide the relevant information as soon as is reasonably practicable.

Shared parental leave notice period

An employee must give at least eight weeks' notice of any leave they wish to take.

If the child is born more than eight weeks early, this notice period can be shorter.

Your employee has a statutory right to a maximum of three separate blocks of shared parental leave, although you can allow more if you wish.

Cancelling the decision to end maternity or adoption leave

The mother or adopter may be able to change their decision to end maternity or adoption leave early if both:

• the planned end date hasn't passed
• they haven't already returned to work

One of the following must also apply:

• it is discovered during the eight week notice period that neither partner is eligible for either SPL or ShPP
• the employee's partner has died
• it is less than six weeks after the birth (and the mother gave notice before the birth)