Shared Parental Leave and Pay

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Eligibility for birth parents

To be eligible for Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP), both parents must:

  • share responsibility for the child at birth
  • meet work and pay criteria - these are different depending on which parent wants to use the shared parental leave and pay

You’re not eligible if you started sharing responsibility for the child after it was born.

The eligibility criteria are different if you’re adoptive parents or parents using a surrogate.

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 get SPL and ShPP. You must:

  • have been employed continuously by the same employer for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the due date
  • stay with the same employer until you start your SPL

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 the mother’s partner wants to take the SPL and ShPP

For the mother’s partner to take SPL and ShPP, both the mother and the mother’s partner must meet some eligibility requirements.

The mother must:

  • have been working for at least 26 weeks out of the 66 weeks before the week the baby’s due (the 26 weeks do not need to be in a row)
  • have earned at least £390 in total across any 13 of the 66 weeks (add up the highest paying weeks - they do not need to be in a row)

The mother’s partner must:

  • have been employed continuously by the same employer for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the due date
  • stay with the same employer until they start their SPL

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

To be eligible for ShPP, the partner must earn on average at least £123 a week.

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

If the mother wants to take the SPL and ShPP

For the mother to take SPL and ShPP, both the mother’s partner and the mother must meet some eligibility criteria.

The mother’s partner must:

  • have been working for at least 26 weeks out of the 66 weeks before the week the baby’s due (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)

The mother must:

  • have been employed continuously by the same employer for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the due date
  • stay with the same employer until they start their SPL

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

To be eligible for ShPP, the mother must earn on average at least £123 a week.

If either the mother or their partner 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

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