Shared Parental Leave Where are we, ten years on?

It has been ten years since the introduction of Shared Parental Leave (SPL), which had the aim of providing more equality in the early months of a child’s life between both parents. We look at the progress made in the first decade of SPL, whether its aims have been achieved and what we can expect moving forwards.

What is SPL and where are we?

Shared Parental Leave offers an alternative mechanism for parents where they can split statutory leave between them.  The right allows parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave (the first 37 of which qualify for shared parental leave pay) following the birth or adoption of their child.

One of the key aims of the policy was to allow fathers the right to have paid time off in the immediate year after the child’s birth or adoption, when they previously only had the right to 2 weeks’ leave and statutory pay. Traditionally, this right was only afforded to women under maternity leave.

Statistics from a recent BBC News article have shown that, in reality, the first ten years of SPL have shown both an earning and location divide in its take-up. Only 5% of those who utilised SPL came from the bottom 50% of earners and since 2014, £40m in SPL payments has gone to families living in London - almost ten times more than to families living in the North-East of England.

Additionally, the article highlighted that in a 2023 government review, 45% of fathers were not aware that SPL was an option, and it was only used in under 2% of all births last year. These figures are a stark contrast from the aim of the scheme.

Have its aims been achieved?

It is clear that SPL has not been used to the extended it was hoped. Seeing such a low uptake of the right, and worse, an incredibly low awareness of it existence, questions why it has proven to be so unsuccessful.

The legislation has long been viewed as being overly complex for businesses, yet alone their workforce, to understand. This in turn may have meant that its availability was not highlighted to workers as much as it may have otherwise been. Raising awareness of the scheme and offering models where families could have seen what impact this would have for them financially, may have resulted in a greater uptake.

SPL does however, tend to favour families made up of higher earners, particularly if (in birth cases) the higher earner of the two parents is the mother. This is because if the mother were to return to work and is on a salary as high or higher than the father, it may be more financially advantageous for her to be the one returning and therefore, receiving the full salary. It unfortunately remains the case that males statistically continue to earn more than females.

What might the future look like?

Fathers of babies born after 6 April 2024 are also entitled to statutory paternity leave, which is the equivalent of two weeks, to be taken within 52 weeks of birth. This only applies to employees who have been continuously employed for at least 26 weeks up to any day in the ‘qualifying week’ (this is the 15^th week before the baby is due). The new Labour government have promised their intention to review the parental leave systems, during their first year in office. They have suggested a move to statutory paternity leave being a ‘Day One’ right i.e. no qualifying length of service will be required for employees. We may also see a move towards extending family provisions further, or reviewing the complicated SPL legislation, however nothing further has been promised.

Parental rights are a growing topic, and the current set of parental rights have clearly not achieved the aims that were set out. We will therefore continue to monitor any developments as they arise under the current government. If your business has any questions surrounding parental rights, and any potential upcoming changes, please do not hesitate to get in touch with one of the team.