Shared parental leave - help!

StevenGude

Hi
We are expecting our first child in March and we are a little confused regarding the rules regarding SPL and its impact on maternity leave.

My wife is a teacher, and is planning on taking 9 months maternity leave. She gets
4 weeks full pay
2 weeks 90%
12 weeks 50% plus stat
Some weeks stat
Any extra unpaid

As she is only having 9 months off, my plan was to take an extra couple of weeks SPL in addition to my paternity leave. My worried though that this will impact on my wifes maternity pay?

Can I take 1-2 weeks SPL straight after my paternity leave without it impacting on my wifes maternity pay?

How do we go about this, as a lot of the websites say she has to give notice of her maternity ending.. but I would be taking SPL at the start of her maternity leave not at the end? Does she just have to commit to not taking more than 50 weeks?

unforeseen

Have you read https://www.gov.uk/shared-parental-leave-and-pay
This covers most of your questions.

StevenGude

I've read it, but I'm not 100% clear

unforeseen

To use SPL the mother must either cease Maternity leave or give notice of the date that she will be returning to work. I.E. Make a binding commitment to return to work.

As long as either condition is met then SPL can be taken any time within a year of the birth.

silvercar

Teachers often plan to return to work the day school holidays start, to give them another few weeks on full pay without having to actually teach.