Shared Parental Leave advice

Danik

Hi, I really need some advice on Shared Parental Leave. I have done lots of research online but not found the answer!

My wife is self employed (working from home) and it makes no sense for her to take time off only to receive the statutory £138 per week. I would like to take the leave instead of her so we can both be home to look after the baby and she will also be able to continue working with me being home to help out with the baby.

The articles I have read don't seem to address the issue of the father taking the full leave if the mother does not want to take it.

Firstly, I want to know, is it possible for her to not take any maternity leave at all and for me to start the leave from the day our baby is born? Everything I read keeps referring to her 'ending her maternity leave early' but we don't want her to even register for maternity leave as it doesn't make financial sense. Is this possible?

Secondly, will I be paid the full 90% of my salary for the first 6 weeks? and will it then go down to the statutory £138 per week?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

marshmallows

men can't take additional paternity leave until 20 weeks after the baby is born. https://www.gov.uk/employers-additional-paternity-pay-leave You will only get the statutory rate and not the 90%

hawk30

What's the baby's due date? Shared parental leave isn't due to come into force until 5 April 2014 next year. If your baby is due before this date you will be stuck with additional paternity leave.

notanewuser

Your wife must take an absolute minimum of 2 weeks maternity leave regardless of anything else.

Mojisola

notanewuser wrote: »

Your wife must take an absolute minimum of 2 weeks maternity leave regardless of anything else.

If you work for yourself at home, how can anyone insist that you don't work for two weeks?

notanewuser

Mojisola wrote: »

If you work for yourself at home, how can anyone insist that you don't work for two weeks?

Good point. Perhaps I should have said that his wife would be utterly insane not to take a minimum of 2 weeks off.

Pricivius

My understanding is as follows:

The first two weeks of maternity leave is compulsory. I appreciate this is strange for someone self-employed who can obviously do what they want, but there it is. Your OH therefore must take the first two weeks and receive SMP/MA for this. She should serve her curtailment notice in plenty of time before the birth to confirm she intends to end her MA at the end of week 2 so that you can take over at this point.

And this comes on to your next question. As she is self-employed, I am unclear how she would be entitled to SMP. Check the gov.uk calculator but I reckon she is entitled to MA. In which case, there is no initial 6 week uplift - it's the lower of £138.18 or her gross weekly income per week for 39 weeks. So you would not be able to be paid the 6 week uplift. IF she is entitled to SMP, my understanding is that the 6 week uplift is not transferable.

Hope that helps.

LittleMissGiggles123

If she's self employed though she can pay herself whatever she wants in the time she takes off for maternity. Same as an employer can offer enhanced maternity benefits to any employee.


So I'm guessing your question is more about her needing to work because of being self employed & having nobody else to do the work. In this case, she will need some time off after having the baby as you will both want to spend time with your newborn. apart from that nothing is stopping your wife returning to work after the minimum 2 week period that the government stipulates.


For yourself, you can take the standard paternity leave when the baby is born but as I remember (recently been through new employee T&C's where I work) the additional leave cannot be taken before the 20th week.


Good luck

Former_MSE_Wendy

Hi Danik

Someone from the Department of Business has asked us to post this reply to you:

Hello, I work at BIS (Department of Business, Innovation and Skills).

Your self-employed wife will not be entitled to maternity leave but she may be entitled to Maternity Allowance (see https://www.gov.uk/maternity-allowance/overview). This is paid for 39 weeks at £138.18 a week.

If your baby is due on or after 5 April 2015, your wife will be able to end her Maternity Allowance from 2 week after the birth. For you to qualify for shared parental leave, you must be an employee, have been continuously employed by the same employer at the end of the 15th week before the baby's due date and must still be in employment in the week before you take any shared parental leave.

In addition, to qualify for statutory shared parental pay, you must have earned at least £111 per week. If you meet these requirements, you will be entitled to up to 50 weeks of shared parental leave and up to 37 weeks of statutory shared parental pay. You will need to give your employer at least 8 weeks' notice of your entitlement to take shared parental leave and pay.

Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/shared-parental-leave-and-pay/overview