Shared parental leave and pay helps parents and carers balance work with family life. Read more about this employee benefit and how this may affect you as a domestic employer.

How long is Shared Parental Leave?

Parents and carers can share up to 50 weeks of leave and during the first year of having a baby or adopting a child. They can choose to take the leave and pay in a more flexible way. For example, each parent can split this into 3 blocks of leave.

Shared parental leave must be taken as complete weeks and the minimum period of an installment is one week.

How much is Shared Parental Pay?

Shared parental pay (ShPP) is funded by the government. This is paid at the rate of £184.03 a week (up to 37 weeks) or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.

Are my staff entitled to Shared Parental Leave?

To qualify for ShPL, the individual must share responsibility for the child with one of the following: l their husband, wife, civil partner or joint adopter l the child’s other parent l their partner (if they live with them)

Shared parental pay (ShPP) is funded by the government. This is paid at the rate of £184.03 a week (up to 37 weeks) or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.

Are my staff entitled to Shared Parental Pay?

To be eligible for statutory shared parental pay one of the following must apply:

  • the individual is eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) or Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP)
  • the individual is eligible for Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) and their partner is eligible for SMP, Maternity Allowance (MA) or SAP

Both parents/carers must be eligible for maternity pay or leave, adoption pay or leave or Maternity Allowance. They must also:

  • still, be employed by you while they take SPL
  • give you the correct notice including a declaration that their partner meets the employment and income requirements which allow them to get SPL
  • have been continuously employed by you for at least 26 weeks up to any day of the ‘qualifying week’, or the week they are matched with a child for adoption in the UK.  The ‘qualifying week’ is the 15th week before the baby is due.
How can Stafftax help you

Shared Parental Leave

As a Stafftax client, we can claim your employee’s Shared Parental Pay from the government on your behalf. All we will require is your employee to complete one of the following Acas forms. We display the Shared Parental Pay amounts due on each payslip. You will then use the shared parental pay funding to pay your nanny as usual.

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Holiday Pay

All employees including household staff have a legal minimum holiday entitlement and employers must state your employee’s holiday allowance in their contract.

Sick Pay

If your employee is absent from work due to sickness, you the employer, are responsible for administering Statutory Sick Pay.

Maternity Pay

If your employee becomes pregnant, you will be required to administer Statutory Maternity Pay (if they qualify) to cover their maternity leave.