Shared Parental Leave - only one parent eligble. Confused and work being difficult!

eleanorl89

Hi there, I’m due a baby in January and I am self employed but my Husband is employed. I have tried talking to citizens advice about the following matter but they werent much help

On the gov website it says my husband is eligible for shared parental leave, but I am not. Am I right to believe that this means I would be able to take 2 weeks standard maternity leave and then he would effectively be able to take leave as if he was taking my maternity leave? Hope that makes sense!

His employer is outright refusing and being very difficult, although citizens advice did say it was a legal requirement that they had to oblige it to some degree. It’s all very confusing!

Basically we just want my Husband to have 2-3 months off to look after our baby, whilst I focus on trying to build my new business (I work from home so can still be with baby)

What do we do in this scenario please? Thanks so much! 

Undervalued

eleanorl89 said:

Hi there, I’m due a baby in January and I am self employed but my Husband is employed. I have tried talking to citizens advice about the following matter but they werent much help

On the gov website it says my husband is eligible for shared parental leave, but I am not. Am I right to believe that this means I would be able to take 2 weeks standard maternity leave and then he would effectively be able to take leave as if he was taking my maternity leave? Hope that makes sense!

His employer is outright refusing and being very difficult, although citizens advice did say it was a legal requirement that they had to oblige it to some degree. It’s all very confusing!

Basically we just want my Husband to have 2-3 months off to look after our baby, whilst I focus on trying to build my new business (I work from home so can still be with baby)

What do we do in this scenario please? Thanks so much! 

On what grounds? Are they disputing the legal entitlement?

Assuming Citizens Advice are correct (this is not my expert area so hopefully somebody else will confirm) then your husband is in a very difficult position in deciding the balance of asserting his legal rights against his employer's will and still continuing to work there. Don't underestimate this aspect!

Although I am not their greatest fan, it may be worth contacting ACAS, both to clarify the position and if required to conciliate between your husband and his employer if that is the route you decide to go. It may be that his employer is misunderstanding and once a neutral body explains the position to them they will be OK.

Is your husband a member of a union? If not then he should join one but don't mention this issue to them until he has been a member for a few months!

LinLui

I think they may be correct. To be eligible for Shared Parental Leave you must both be employees, and you are not. Therefore he is definbitely not entitled to Shared Parental Leave. To be eligible for Statutory Shared Parental Pay you must each earn on average at least £123 a week - so if your business is generating an income for you of at least that for 26 weeks out of the 66 weeks before the week the baby’s due, then he may be able to claim Statutory Shared Parental Leave. But if your business is that new, you may not be able to show an income at that level in which case he is not entitled to Statutory Shared Parental Leave either. 

Just to add - you business must pay you £123 a week on average - not simply have an income of £123. Because obviously you will have business costs. 

Caz3121

eleanorl89 said:

On the gov website it says my husband is eligible for shared parental leave, but I am not. 

my understanding is that you both have to meet the requirements
"both parents must - meet work and pay criteria"
If you do the check for 'mother and partner' rather than individually it should show 
Mother - You cannot get Shared Parental Leave or Pay if you're self-employed or unemployed.
Partner - The partner is not eligible for Shared Parental Leave or Pay because the mother has not met the work and pay criteria.

It is possible that Citizens advice may be thinking of "Parental Leave" which is unpaid leave https://www.gov.uk/parental-leave/entitlement

p00hsticks

OP has posted the same question and is getting replies on two different boards so I'm going to request that the two threads are merged. 

LinLui

Answered on the other thread the OP started. OP / husband are definitely not eligible for SPL. There may be entitlement to Statutory SPL, but that depends on the income of the OP

Undervalued

Thanks, hopefully the two threads will be merged!

eleanorl89

LinLui said:

I think they may be correct. To be eligible for Shared Parental Leave you must both be employees, and you are not. Therefore he is definbitely not entitled to Shared Parental Leave. To be eligible for Statutory Shared Parental Pay you must each earn on average at least £123 a week - so if your business is generating an income for you of at least that for 26 weeks out of the 66 weeks before the week the baby’s due, then he may be able to claim Statutory Shared Parental Leave. But if your business is that new, you may not be able to show an income at that level in which case he is not entitled to Statutory Shared Parental Leave either. 

Just to add - you business must pay you £123 a week on average - not simply have an income of £123. Because obviously you will have business costs. 

Thanks for this. I have been self employed since 2016 and earning consistently since then, enough to cover what I would need to earn. I’m starting a new business on top of the one I already have

From the gov website it did say I was not eligible but my Husband was. It also said that you can still take SPL with just one parent being eligible, it just meant you couldn’t share the time if that makes sense

We have managed to download the policy from his company who say this about SPL when talking about their employees partner

”The other parent must have worked (in an employed or self-employed capacity) in at

least 26 of the 66 weeks before the EWC and had average weekly earnings of at least

the maternity allowance threshold (gov dictated) during 13 of those weeks”

Which I have done. So surely this means we are eligible!? We have sent another email to them. 

No idea why all this has to be so difficult. My desire is to keep on working & for my Husband to be the main caregiver whilst the new business is set up. We’ve poured most of our life savings into this new business venture so really cannot afford childcare or for him to take any unpaid time off

Thanks so much

Phoenix72

From my reading you are not entitled to SPL but could be entitled to Statutory SPL, which I'm assuming will be lower.

sheramber

Can you afford for him to only get £184.03 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.?

LinLui

eleanorl89 said:

LinLui said:

I think they may be correct. To be eligible for Shared Parental Leave you must both be employees, and you are not. Therefore he is definbitely not entitled to Shared Parental Leave. To be eligible for Statutory Shared Parental Pay you must each earn on average at least £123 a week - so if your business is generating an income for you of at least that for 26 weeks out of the 66 weeks before the week the baby’s due, then he may be able to claim Statutory Shared Parental Leave. But if your business is that new, you may not be able to show an income at that level in which case he is not entitled to Statutory Shared Parental Leave either. 

Just to add - you business must pay you £123 a week on average - not simply have an income of £123. Because obviously you will have business costs. 

Thanks for this. I have been self employed since 2016 and earning consistently since then, enough to cover what I would need to earn. I’m starting a new business on top of the one I already have

From the gov website it did say I was not eligible but my Husband was. It also said that you can still take SPL with just one parent being eligible, it just meant you couldn’t share the time if that makes sense

We have managed to download the policy from his company who say this about SPL when talking about their employees partner

”The other parent must have worked (in an employed or self-employed capacity) in at

least 26 of the 66 weeks before the EWC and had average weekly earnings of at least

the maternity allowance threshold (gov dictated) during 13 of those weeks”

Which I have done. So surely this means we are eligible!? We have sent another email to them. 

No idea why all this has to be so difficult. My desire is to keep on working & for my Husband to be the main caregiver whilst the new business is set up. We’ve poured most of our life savings into this new business venture so really cannot afford childcare or for him to take any unpaid time off

Thanks so much

Sorry but this is a direct quote from the government site:
To be eligible for SPL, you must be ‘employees’ (not ‘workers’) - check your employment status. If either of you is a ‘worker’, you might be able to share ShPP but not SPL.
https://www.gov.uk/shared-parental-leave-and-pay/eligibility-for-birth-parents

You are a worker. Therefore, as I said before, you may be entitled to Statutory Shared Parental Leave, but you are not entitled to Shared Parental Leave. 

As @sheramberhas said, you will only get £184.03 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. So you will either need to be able to live with a shorfall in income, or ensure that your work or savings cover that shortfall.