Shared parental pay (ShPP)
This section explains who is entitled to shared parental pay (ShPP), what the entitlement is to pay and the notice requirements that need to be given if parents would like to take shared parental pay.
What is shared parental pay (ShPP)?
Shared parental pay (ShPP) goes hand in hand with the right to take shared parental leave (ShPL) and applies to eligible workers in respect of children due to be born on or after 5 April 2015 or in a respect of a child placed for adoption on or after that date.
The mother who is entitled to either statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance can cut short the period of time that she is entitled to receive these payments and for the remainder of that period either she and or the partner will receive shared parental pay.
Who qualifies for ShPP?
In a similar way to ShPL the entitlement to ShPP depends on both the mother and partner of the child meeting separate criteria. Only individuals who qualify for ShPL are entitled to SPP. Unlike ShPL, it is not necessary to be an employee to claim ShPP.
How much is ShPP?
What are the qualifying criteria for the mother for ShPP?
The mother must:
- Satisfy the continuity of employment test (see below) and have earnings of at least the NI lower earnings limit in the eight weeks leading up to the qualifying week (15 weeks before the due date).
- Have the main responsibility to care for the child (apart from the partner);
- Give the correct notice;
- Be entitled to statutory maternity pay (SMP) in respect of that child and she must have reduced /cut short/curtailed her SMP and continue to do so;
- It must be the mother’s intention to care for the child for each week of the period that the ShPP is paid; and
- If the mother is an employee (i.e. engaged on a contract of employment) she must be absent on shared parental leave ShPL for the period that ShPP is paid. This means that she cannot receive ShPP if she is absent from work for other reasons. However, this requirement does not apply if the mother is not an employee – for example an agency worker engaged on a contract for services.
Additionally, the partner must meet the following conditions:
- Have the main responsibility for looking after the child apart from the mother; and
- Satisfy the employment and earnings requirement (see below).
What are the qualifying criteria for the partner for ShPP?
The partner must:
- Satisfy the continuity of employment test (see below) and have earnings of at least the NI lower earnings limit in the eight weeks leading up to the qualifying week (15 weeks before the due date);
- Have the main responsibility to care for the child (apart from the mother);
- Comply with the notice requirements;
- Intend to care for the child during each week that ShPP is paid;
- Be absent from work each week that ShPP is paid (except for SPLiT days); and
- Be absent from work on ShPL if the partner is an employee. This requirement does not apply to an agency worker who is engaged on a contract for services and not entitled to ShPL.
Additionally the mother must:
- Have the main responsibility to care for the child (apart from the partner);
- Meet the employment and earnings criteria (see below); and
- Must be entitled to SMP or maternity allowance or (statutory adoption pay in the case of adoption). She must reduce these payments in order to make ShPP available to the partner.
What is the continuity of employment test?
The mother/partner’s must be in employed earnings employment with an employer for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks leading up to either the expected birth of the child or date of the adoption match. That means it isn’t necessary for the person to be an employee. An agency worker engaged on a contract for services can meet the continuity of employment test.
What are the employment and earnings criteria?
The mother/partner must either have been engaged as an ‘employed earner’ or self-employed earner for a period of 26 weeks in the 66 week period leading up to either the expected birth of the child or date of the adoption match. Over that period the mother/partner must earn at least an average of the specified minimum amount over thirteen of those weeks. The highest paid 13 weeks are used to work out the average. The 26 weeks do not have to be worked continuously.
Note that the mother/partner does not have to be an employee to satisfy the employment and earnings criteria. This means that, for example, an agency worker engaged on a contract for services or self-employed person can also meet the criteria and this will allow the other parent (who meets the mother/partner criteria as applicable) to take ShPL.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has developed a Shared Parental Pay and Leave calculator which can be used by employees to determine whether they are eligible for shared parental leave and how much shared parental pay they are entitled to.
How long is ShPP paid for?
ShPP is calculated as 39 week maternity pay period (i.e. the period that SMP, maternity allowance or adoption pay is paid for) less the amount of maternity pay that the mother receives having cut short the maternity pay period.
A mother cannot give up the first two weeks of her SMP period or maternity allowance (or the first four weeks if she is employed in factory work), so in reality the maximum amount of ShPP is 37 weeks.
So for example, if the mother cuts short her SMP and is only paid this for 20 weeks, that leaves a balance of 19 weeks which can be taken instead as ShPP by either her and or the partner.
ShPP can only be paid up until the day before the child’s first birthday.
How does an employee/worker request ShPP?
The employee/worker must give at least 8 weeks’ notice to his or her employer/engager setting out their entitlement to ShPP and of the period that the ShPP is to begin.
The mother must curtail her SMP, see below 'How does a mother or adopter curtail statutory maternity pay/ maternity allowance or adoption pay?'.
How does a mother or adopter curtail statutory maternity pay/ maternity allowance or adoption pay?
There are two reasons for curtailing statutory maternity pay/maternity allowance or statutory adoption pay.
Firstly, a mother is required to cut short her statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance (both referred to below as maternity payments) to create ShPP which can then be taken by her and or her partner. Similarly an adopter is required to curtail his/her adoption pay to create ShPP which can be taken by him/her and or his/her partner. This is referred to as curtailing the statutory maternity pay, maternity allowance or statutory adoption leave.
Secondly, a mother who is not an employee (i.e. is not engaged on a contract of employment) who therefore is not entitled to statutory leave, but who qualifies for a maternity payment can instead create shared parental leave for her partner by curtailing her maternity payment.
Similarly, an adopter who is not an employee but who qualifies for statutory adoption pay can create shared parental leave for his/her partner by curtailing his/her statutory adoption pay. The partner must meet the qualifying criteria to take ShPL.
Agency workers
This could benefit agency workers who are engaged on a contract for services. While not being able to take maternity leave or adoption leave themselves, their partners may be able to take ShPL. So where we refer to an employer in this section, this also includes those who have engaged workers who are entitled to maternity payments (including employment businesses who engage agency workers on contracts for services).
Below we set out what a mother must do to curtail her maternity payments but this is similar to the procedure for an adopter to curtail statutory adoption pay.
Maternity payments are paid for a total of 39 weeks. If a mother curtails the maternity payment period, the balance can be taken as ShPP. It is important to note that a mother must take at least two weeks of maternity payments (or four weeks for women employed in certain factory roles who are required by law to take four weeks compulsory maternity leave following the birth of the child).
Procedure to curtail maternity payments
Maternity pay period curtailment notice: A mother must give her the employer who is paying her maternity payment this notice of at least eight weeks that she wishes to end her maternity payment plus at least one additional week that will be converted to ShPP. This notice can be given before she returns to work.
The notice must:
- Be in writing;
- Specify the date on which the maternity pay period must end.
Note that if the mother is receiving maternity allowance rather than statutory maternity pay, the notice must be given to Jobcentre Plus.
If a mother returns to work before serving her maternity pay period curtailment notice, this will not end her entitlement to continue to receive the payments and she and /or her partner will not be entitled to ShPP. She must give the employer who is paying her maternity payment (or Jobcentre Plus for maternity allowance) eight weeks written notice to curtail her ShPP plus the number of weeks that she wants ShPP to be paid for. Any ShPP must be taken within the 39 week maternity pay period.
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) have developed standard template letters which can be used by parents applying for ShPL.
Notice to be given by the mother
The notice of entitlement, which must be given at least eight weeks before the beginning of the first period of ShPP begins, must set out:
- The total number of weeks that the mother would be entitled to be paid ShPP for (notwithstanding the weeks that the partner would be entitled to receive ShPP for);
- From that the total, the number of weeks that the mother intends to claim ShPP for;
- The number of weeks that the partner intends to claim ShPP for; and
- The dates that the mother wishes to claim ShPP.
The notice must also include declarations from the mother and partner of the following:
Partner’s declaration
A declaration signed by the partner, which provides the name address and National Insurance number of the partner (or where there is no NI, confirmation that there is no NI number) and the following information:
- Confirmation that the partner agrees to the mother’s claim for ShPP;
- Confirmation that the partner meets the conditions of entitlement to ShPP; and
- The declaration should also provide confirmation that the partner consents to the processing of the information above by the employer/engager responsible for paying the ShPP to the mother.
Mother’s declaration
- Confirmation that the information she has given above is correct and that she meets the conditions of entitlement to ShPP;
- Confirmation that the mother will immediately inform the employer if she is no longer entitled to be paid ShPP; and
- The date that the mothers maternity pay period (SMP, maternity allowance) began and the number of weeks that this will be cut short.
The mother must also give notice of the child’s date of birth at least eight weeks before the first period of ShPP given by the mother, or, if the child is not born, as soon as reasonably practicable but no later than the date that the first period of ShPP will begin.
Notice to be given by the partner
The notice of entitlement, which must be given at least eight weeks before the beginning of the first period of ShPP begins, must set out:
- The total number of weeks that the partner would be entitled to be paid ShPP for (notwithstanding the weeks that the mother would be entitled to receive ShPP for;
- From that the total, the number of weeks that the partner intends to claim ShPP for;
- The number of weeks that the mother intends to claim ShPP for; and
- The dates that the partner wishes to claim ShPP.
The notice must also include declarations from the partner and mother of the following:
Mother’s declaration
A declaration signed by the mother, which provides her name, address and National Insurance number (or where there is no NI, confirmation that there is no NI number) and the following information:
- That the mother consents to the partner’s claim for ShPP;
- That the mother meets the conditions of entitlement to ShPP;
- That the mother will immediately inform the partner if she no longer qualifies for ShPP;
- The date that the mother’s maternity pay period (SMP, maternity allowance) began and the number of weeks that this will be cut short; and
- The declaration should also provide confirmation that the mother consents to the processing of the information above by the employer/engager responsible for paying the ShPP to the partner.
Partner’s declaration
A declaration signed by the partner, which provides the name address and National Insurance number of the mother (or where there is no NI, confirmation that there is no NI number) and the following information:
- Confirmation that the partner agrees to the mother’s claim for ShPP;
- Confirmation that the partner meets the conditions of entitlement to ShPP; and
- The declaration should also provide confirmation that the partner consents to the processing of the information above by the employer/engager responsible for paying the ShPP to the mother.
The partner must also give notice of the child’s date of birth at least eight weeks before the first period of ShPP given by the partner, or, if the child is not born, as soon as reasonably practicable but no later than the date that the first period of ShPP will begin.
What additional information can the employer request?
Within 14 days of receiving the notice of ShPP from the parent the employer is required to pay ShPP to, the employer can ask him or her for a copy of the child’s birth certificate, or a declaration that this has not been issued if applicable. The employer can also request the name and address of the other parent or confirmation that there is no employer.
The employer must make this request this within 14 days of receiving the notice of entitlement of ShPP and where it does, the parent also has 14 days to provide the information.
How should notices be given for ShPL and ShPP?
Where there is a requirement for any person to give notice in relation to ShPL or ShPP it must be done in writing and either given:
- By post;
- Personal delivery (by hand); or
- Electronically (e.g. by e-mail) where agreed by the person receiving it.
Any notice sent by post (in a properly addressed and stamped envelope) will be taken to have been given on the day the notice is posted. Any notice given by hand be taken to have been given on the date it is delivered and any notice sent electronically will be taken to have been given on the date it is transmitted.
Disclaimer
This information is for guidance purposes only and should not be regarded as a substitute for taking legal advice. Please refer to the full terms and conditions on our website.