From April, parents will be able to share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay, on top of an initial two weeks each.
Currently, an eligible employee who is the biological father of a child or the mother’s spouse, civil partner or partner is entitled to one or two weeks’ ordinary Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP). The current rate of SPP is £138.18 per week.
What’s going to happen in April 2015?
The new rules will allow women to curtail their maternity leave to enable their partner to take Shared Parental Leave (SPL) instead. To be eligible to use the new SPL system, each parent will need to meet qualifying criteria for leave and pay (a minimum level of earnings and length of service will apply).
Eligible parents can share 50 weeks’ leave and 37 weeks’ pay, with similar rules for adoptive parents.
And after the general election in May?
A future Labour government would double the amount of paid paternity leave available to new fathers from two to four weeks, Ed Miliband has announced. The Labour leader has also pledged to increase statutory paternity pay by more than £120 a week to £260 a week.
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