Shared Parental Leave and Pay
What you'll get
You can share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay between you.
The actual amount depends on how much maternity or adoption leave and pay (or Maternity Allowance) you or your partner take. If you or your partner are eligible then you can:
- take less than the 52 weeks of maternity or adoption leave and use the rest as Shared Parental Leave (SPL)
- take less than the 39 weeks of maternity or adoption pay (or Maternity Allowance) and use the rest as Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP)
You can check when you and your partner can take your leave and how much statutory pay you’ll get using the Shared Parental Leave and Pay planning tool.
How much pay you’ll get
ShPP is paid at the rate of £184.03 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.
This is the same as Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) except that during the first 6 weeks SMP is paid at 90% of whatever you earn (with no maximum).
Example
A woman decides to start her maternity leave 4 weeks before the due date and gives notice that she’ll start SPL from 10 weeks after the birth (taking a total of 14 weeks maternity leave). She normally earns £200 a week.
She’s paid £180 (90% of her average weekly earnings) as SMP for the first 6 weeks of maternity leave, then £184.03 a week for the next 8 weeks. Once she goes onto SPL, she’s still paid £184.03 a week.