Shared Parental Leave and Pay

Skip contents

Eligibility for adopters or parents using a surrogate

To be eligible for Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP), both adoptive parents or both parents using a surrogate must share responsibility for the child from:

  • the child’s due date or birth date if you’re using a surrogate
  • the date the child is placed with you, if you’re adopting or fostering to adopt

Both parents must also meet the work and earnings criteria. The criteria are different depending on which one of you wants to use the shared parental leave and pay

The eligibility criteria are different if you’re birth parents.

You can check if you can get SPL and ShPP. You’ll need to know:

If both parents want to share the SPL and ShPP

Both parents must meet the same eligibility criteria.

To be eligible for SPL and ShPP, you must stay with the same employer until you start your SPL. You must be employed continuously by them for at least 26 weeks, by either:

  • the end of the week you or your partner are matched with a child if you’re adopting
  • the end of the 15th week before the due date if you’re using a surrogate

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.

To be eligible for ShPP, you must each earn on average at least £123 a week. If you usually earn an average of £123 or more a week each, and you only earned less in some weeks because you were on furlough under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), you may still be eligible.

If only one of the parents wants to take the SPL and ShPP

Both parents must meet some eligibility criteria.

Criteria for the parent taking SPL and ShPP

The parent who wants to take the leave and pay must stay with the same employer until they start their SPL.

They must also have been employed continuously by the same employer for at least 26 weeks, by either:

  • the end of the week you or your partner are matched with a child if you’re adopting
  • the end of the 15th week before the due date if you’re using a surrogate

To be eligible for SPL, they must be an ‘employee’ (not a ‘worker’) - check their employment status. If they are a ‘worker’, they might be able to get ShPP but not SPL.

To be eligible for ShPP, they must earn on average at least £123 each a week. If they earned less than the amount needed because they were on furlough under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, they may still be eligible.

Criteria for the other parent

The other parent must:

  • have been working for at least 26 weeks out of the 66 weeks before the week the child was placed with you (the 26 weeks do not need to be in a row)
  • have earned at least £390 in total in 13 of the 66 weeks (add up the highest paying weeks - they do not need to be in a row)

If they earned less than the amount needed because they were on furlough under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, they may still be eligible.

View a printable version of the whole guide

Related content