Shared Parental Leave (ShPL) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) allow eligible employees in working couples to share any maternity leave and pay (i.e. SMP or MA) remaining when the mother ends her maternity leave and/or her maternity pay period (or maternity allowance period) early. The same applies to an adopter who is entitled to adoption leave and/or Statutory Adoption Pay.
It is important to understand the individual employee roles:
A mother is an individual who qualifies for Statutory Maternity Leave (SML)
An adopter is an individual who qualifies for Statutory Adoption Leave (SAP).
A partner is an individual who qualifies for Additional Statutory Paternity Leave (ASPL)
Freedom is aware of whether a mother, adopter or partner would qualify for Shared Parental Pay because:
If a mother qualifies for SMP then they would also qualify for ShPP
If an adopter qualifies for SAP then they would also qualify for ShPP
If a partner qualifies for ASPP then they would also qualify for ShPP
Therefore:
A mother may curtail her SML and move to ShPL, and if they qualified for SMP they would qualify for ShPP
An adopter may curtail their SAL and move to ShPL, and if they qualified for SAP they would qualify for ShPP
A partner who previously would have qualified for ASPL would now qualify for ShPL, and if they would have qualified for ASPP they would now qualify for ShPP
So the following situations may arise:
For a Maternity case, where the baby is due on or after 5th April 2015, the Maternity Leave and Pay may be curtailed, and the remainder transformed into Shared Parental Leave and Pay
For an Adoption case, where the child is matched for adoption on or after 5th April 2015, the Adoption Leave and Pay may be curtailed, and the remainder transformed into Shared Parental Leave and Pay
A partner may apply for leave, and if the baby is due or the child matched for adoption on or after 5th April 2015 then they may qualify for ShPL and ShPP, alternatively they may qualify for ASPL and ASPP