shared parental leave report final

8/18/2019 Shared Parental Leave Report FINAL

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Shared Parental Leave: Nine Months and Counting

Understanding employee attitudes to shared parental leave

›


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Introduction

Shared parental leave (SPL) is a completely

new type of family leave available to

parents of babies due or children placed

for adoption from 5 April 2015. Expected

to give new parents greater flexibility,

it allows for up to a combined maximum

of 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of

statutory pay to be shared by the parents

who can choose to take this leave together

or independently of one another. It is

perhaps the biggest change to thestructure of family leave that has ever

been seen in this country, reflecting wider

social objectives of encouraging the

engagement of women in the workplace

and challenging the gender stereotypes

of the involvement of mothers and fathers

in childcare.

The concept may be simple but the detail

of the new regime is not. This, alongside

the practical issues and cultural change

required for successful implementation,

presents a totally new challenge for

employers. Linklaters has been exploringthe key questions and issues surrounding

the introduction of the leave (which will

be in force from 1 December 2014 but

will apply only to babies due, or children

adopted, after 5 April 2015) in a series

of monthly briefings.

This report is based on an online

survey of 125 male and 125 female

employees across a spread of FTSE 100

companies in the UK. All respondents

have had a baby in the last two years

or are going to become parents in the

next six months. Of those surveyed,

30% are employed at managementlevel or above and 70% are operational

and support staff. The survey was

conducted in September 2014.

About the surveyAs employers prepare for the change,

understanding employee attitudes to

shared parental leave is key in assessing

the likely impact of the new regime

on their organisation. To address this,

we commissioned research looking at

the attitude of employees of FTSE 100

employers.

In this report we set out our key findings

in relation to employee attitudes to

shared parental leave alongside practical

details of how the new right will work in

practice, and our insight into how our

findings are likely to inform employer

decisions in relation to shared parental

pay, including the all important question

of enhanced pay.

250This report is based on

an online survey of equal

numbers of males and

females employed by

FTSE 100 companies.

Shared Parental Leave: Nine Months and Counting ›‹


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New rights, key findings

For the first time in

England and Wales, eligible

new parents will have the

opportunity to take leave in

the first year of their child’s

life in a fully flexible way.

Overview of new entitlement

> Shared leave and pay:

Mothers who have given birth must take

two weeks of compulsory maternity

leave and pay, the remaining 50 weeks

of leave and 37 weeks of statutory

pay is available to the parents to take

as shared parental leave and share

between them, subject to eligibility.

> Pattern of leave:Parents can both take SPL at the same

time or they can each take a period of

SPL independently of the other.

> Maternity leave still available:

SPL is an alternative to traditional

maternity leave.

> Additional paternity leave:

APL will be abolished.

> Sacrifice of maternity rights:

For either parent to take SPL, the mother

must give up her rights to maternity

leave and pay. These cannot usuallybe reinstated.

> Benefit to working families:

Only employees are entitled to SPL

and parents who are not employed

must satisfy a test of minimum

economic activity for their co-parent

to be eligible.

> Interdependent entitlement:

Each parent must personally meet

the requirements for SPL, and their

co-parent must also meet specified

requirements, even if the co-parent

is not themselves entitled to take SPL.

For more information on who is

eligible to take SPL, please see our

August briefing.

> Notice requirements:

Mothers must give notice to end

maternity leave and pay, notice of

entitlement and intention to take SPL

and a period of leave notice. Fathers

must also give notice of entitlement

and intention to take SPL and a

period of leave notice.

> Discontinuous blocks:

SPL can be taken in one block or

several discontinuous blocks.

Employees can give up to three

notices of an intention to take SPL and

each notice can specify one or moreblocks of leave. An employer must

agree to a request for a single period

of SPL, given in one notice (even if

previous blocks of SPL have been

taken), but can refuse a request for

multiple blocks of SPL specified in a

single notice.

The employees surveyed indicated

clearly that shared parental leave is

of interest, and provides attractive

advantages. In practice, the offer of

additional pay by employers (beyond

the statutory entitlement) is a key factor

that would influence the decision of

an employee interested in SPL to takeit. The absence of enhanced pay is

a key factor that would influence an

employee interested in SPL not to take

it. Employers concerned about the

cost of any potential offer of additional

pay to employees on shared parental

leave may take comfort from the

findings that single periods of SPL

appear to be of greater interest than

multiple discontinuous periods of SPL.

Key findings


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Employee interest and value

The relationship between interest and

take-up rates is important to employers

when costing any planned enhancements

to pay for those on shared parental

leave. It is also relevant to planning how

practical arrangements such as cover

might be dealt with. The government’s

estimate is that between 2% and 6% of

those eligible will take up SPL. One of the

reasons for this relatively low predicted

rate is that the take-up rates for additionalpaternity leave (an existing right entitling

women to transfer untaken maternity

leave to the child’s father after the first

26 weeks), with which SPL is commonly

compared, have been very low.

However, many commentators believe

that the uptake of SPL is likely to be

considerably higher. Our survey further

reinforces this possibility of a higher uptake

with 63% of those surveyed saying that

they would be interested in taking up SPL.

Likely reasons for this include greaterflexibility (particularly in enabling men

to take extra leave during the first six

months of a child’s life and alongside

the mother), the high level of publicity

surrounding SPL, and the objective of

increasing retention of female talent in

the workforce, which has become an

increasingly high profile boardroom issue

for employers.

Employee interest in shared

parental leave informs likely

take-up rates of the new

right as well as the value

that employees attribute

to this right. Our research

results show that there is ahigh level of interest in SPL

amongst employees.

Employee interest in shared parental

leave is also a strong indicator of the

perceived value to employees of the new

right. Our research shows that only 3% of

female and 5% of male employees believe

that SPL would not offer any advantages

to them. This suggests that employers

who invest in enabling employees to take

SPL and encouraging them to do so are

likely to reap the benefits in terms of

employee loyalty and retention.

The top three factors chosen by both male

and female employees combined as being

the most attractive advantages of SPL were:

1. Opportunity for father to spend

more time with the child;

2. Opportunity for child’s father to share

childcare responsibilities enabling the

mother to return to work during the

child’s first year; and

3. Opportunity to share childcare

responsibilities by taking leave at

the same time.

However this is not the whole story.

Whether employees who are interested in

taking up SPL actually do so will depend

on a number of factors, including financial,

personal and practical considerations.

As well as looking at levels of employee

interest, our research considered the

factors most likely to influence employees

to take or not to take SPL.

‘Interested’ or ‘Very interested’ 63%

‘Not sure’ how interested they would be 22%

‘Not interested’ 16%

63%

62%

Men and women showed roughly equal levels of

interest in SPL.

Our research results show that there is a high level

of interest in SPL amongst employees.

Levels of

interest in

SPL



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Men and women who are ‘interested’ or ‘very

interested’ in taking SPL said that no or insufficient

entitlement to additional pay being available to

them when taking SPL would be ‘relevant’ or ‘very

relevant’ to them deciding NOT to take SPL.

71%

73%

No/insufficientadditional paybeing relevantin not taking

SPL

76% of both men and women who are ‘interested’ or

‘very interested’ in taking SPL said that entitlement

to additional pay during SPL (in excess of the

statutory entitlement) would be ‘relevant’ or ‘very

relevant’ to them deciding to take-up SPL compared

to 66% of women and 61% of men overall.

76%76%

66%

61%Entitlementto additional

pay during SPLbeing relevant

to take-up

Interested/

very interested

Overall

The question of enhanced pay –how money matters

Our research results show

that the availability of

additional pay will influence

whether employees who

are interested in taking up

SPL actually do so.

Entitlement to statutory pay during SPL

Parents are entitled to share a

maximum total of 37 weeks of

statutory pay (currently £138.18per week).

There is no statutory obligation to offer

any additional pay on top of this.

Total amount

of statutory payavailable to the

parents to takeduring SPL

Statutory pay for

two-week periodof compulsorymaternity leave

Any weeks

of statutory

maternity paythe motherhas taken

Mother’s 39

week period

of entitlementto statutory

maternity pay

Do take-up rates matter?

Unless employees can and do take SPL,

the value of the right will be diminished.

Some employers will want to ensure that

employees understand and are able to

exercise their rights to SPL while others

will be keen to promote the new rights

and actively endorse take-up, perhaps

through publicity and offering pay

enhancements. For the latter, low rates

of take-up are likely to be a negative

in terms of publicity, recruitment and

retention, as well as the promotion of

a diverse workforce and, in particular,

furthering the agenda of women in the

workforce, particularly in senior positions.



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Enhancing pay – key considerations

Why might employers want to enhance

SPL payments, even though there is no

statutory obligation to do so?

> Publicity/employee expectations:

Given the publicity around SPL,

it seems likely that employees are and

will be more aware of this right and

may have expectations that it will beseen as a simple transfer of maternity

rights between parents. Employees

may therefore expect enhancements to

be available. This issue of employee

expectations, particularly the

expectations of mothers, is likely to

increase the pressure on employers

to provide the same enhancements

for SPL as for maternity leave.

> Supporting women’s careers:

SPL may be a way for mothers to

take shorter periods of leave and

reduce any risk of career interruption.

This strand of thought reflects the

increase in pressure on companies

to ensure diverse senior employee

representation, particularly at board

level, and SPL is perceived as a tool

to achieve these diversity objectives.

> Employer branding:

Enhancements to SPL may be seen

as an employer branding issue and

present an opportunity for employers

to present themselves as an

employer of choice in family friendly

and diversity issues.

> Possible loss of enhanced

maternity benefits:

Women who want to share some of

their maternity leave with their partner

will need to end their own maternityleave early and either return to work

or take SPL themselves. A woman

taking a period of SPL which appears

to her to be in all respects identical

to maternity leave may in fact lose

the contractual enhancements that

her employer offers to those on

maternity leave.

> To reduce risk of actual/perceived

discrimination issues:

There is a risk that men who feel

that they are not being treated fairly

in relation to women in the workforce

will bring discrimination claims.

There is some scope for such claims

to be successful. The extent of this

feeling and the likelihood of claims

may vary according to whether any

enhancements at all are offered.

For more information on considerations

relating to enhanced pay, including

discrimination, please see our

October briefing.

Entitlement of employee’s co-parentto pay

Our research shows that the entitlement

of an employee’s co-parent to enhanced

pay during SPL will influence whether

or not the employee takes SPL and the

pattern of leave they choose. This is an

unpredictable factor, that is outside of

an employer’s control, but one which

will affect take-up rates. For example, a

mother who is entitled to enhanced pay

during maternity leave but not during

SPL is unlikely to sacrifice any of her paid

maternity leave to take SPL (although

she may sacrifice an unpaid part). If the

child’s father is entitled to enhanced

pay during SPL, a mother is likely to be

more willing to sacrifice some maternity

leave to enable him to take SPL, and this

may include some paid maternity leave,

depending on the relative earnings of

the parents.

If at least one parent is entitled to enhancedpay during SPL the parents are both more

likely to take SPL than if neither is entitled.

One parent can take SPL and receive

enhanced pay and their co-parent can be

working and earning or both parents could

take SPL at the same time whilst still

retaining one income. These perspectives

are backed-up by our research.

> More than half of both male and

female employees felt that the

entitlement of their co-parent to

additional pay during SPL would

also be ‘relevant’ or ‘very relevant’ to

whether or not that employee (rather

than the co-parent) takes up SPL.

The reason most frequently cited

by women as being relevant or very

relevant to them taking SPL was

entitlement to additional pay during SPL.The entitlement of the child’s mother

to SPL was also the reason most cited

by men as being relevant or very

relevant to the father taking SPL.

> 59% of women and 62% of men

said that no or insufficient pay being

available to their co-parent would

be relevant or very relevant to them

deciding NOT to take up SPL.

> Slightly more men (62%) than women

(58%) said that no or insufficient

additional pay being available to them during SPL would be relevant or very

relevant to them deciding NOT to take

up SPL.


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Cultural change

> 62% of both men and women said

that concerns about how SPL could be

perceived by management or damage

to their career prospects were relevant

factors that would influence them not

to take SPL. This suggests that whilst

relatively long periods of absence on

maternity leave are commonplace,

employees are concerned that taking

SPL may not be accepted in the

same way. Employers can addressthis by training management about

employees’ entitlements and how

best to approach requests, as well as

making sure the rest of the workforce

understand what SPL is.

> Perception is particularly important

for employers wanting to encourage

healthy take-up rates, given that 50%

of men said that other men in their

organisation opting not to take SPL

would influence them not to take SPL.

> Challenging stereotypes of women as

principal caregivers is also likely to be

key to take-up rates. Men can only take

SPL if the child’s mother agrees to

sacrifice some of her maternity leave,

and women need to feel confident

about doing this. More than 50% of

women said that a desire to take a

long period of leave to care for their

child and not to share this with the

child’s father would be a relevant orvery relevant factor influencing them

not to take or share SPL. The same

is true for men in respect of caring

for a child during SPL. 55% of men

said that a personal preference not to

take SPL would be a relevant or very

relevant factor influencing them not

to take SPL.

The availability or not of

enhanced pay is relevant

to the attractiveness of

SPL to employees and

therefore influences take-

up rate. Other factors were

also cited by employeesas being relevant or very

relevant to take-up,

including how taking SPL is

perceived by the employer

and other employees.

50% of men said that

other men in their

organisation opting

not to take SPL

would influence

them not to take SPL.

of both men and women said that concerns

about how SPL could be perceived by

management or damage to their careerprospects were relevant factors that would

influence them not to take SPL.

62% 62%



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How much leave and when –the effect of patterns of leave

The new regime allows

parents significant flexibility

in the way in which leave

is taken during a child’s

first year, including the

possibility of discontinuous

periods of SPL.Our research shows that taking a single

period of SPL is likely to be more popular

than taking one or more discontinuous

periods. Men are also more likely to prefer

taking SPL during the first six months of

their child’s first year. This is noteworthy

in terms of potential likely take-up, given

that under the current additional paternity

regime, men can only take leave in the

second six months of a child’s life.

> Both men and women showed a

significant preference for taking one

period of SPL rather than multiple

periods of SPL.

> Men overwhelmingly showed a

preference to take SPL at the same

time as their co-parent rather than

independently of their co-parent.

> Men expressed a preference to

take SPL at the same time as their

co-parent in the first six months of

the child’s life.

One period at the same time as co-parent 36%

22%

One period independently of co-parent 24%

16%

More than one period at the same timeas co-parent 7%

9%

More than one period independentlyof co-parent 6%

6%

How and when would men prefer to take SPL?

First 6 months of a child’s life

Second 6 months of a child’s life

Possible patterns of leave

Parents can take and share SPL in

many different ways to suit their family

circumstances. For example:

> Only father takes SPL:

A mother could take 37 weeks of

maternity leave and pay, and the

father could take two weeks of ordinary

paternity leave, followed by two weeks

of SPL and pay at the same time asthe child’s mother.

> Maternity leave/SPL for the mother,

SPL for the father:


maternity leave and pay, return to work

for 12 weeks and then take a further

12 weeks of SPL and pay. The child’s

father could take 20 weeks of SPL,

some at the same time as the mother

and some after she has returned to

work. He would be entitled to pay for

15 weeks of SPL as this is all the pay

remaining from the total of 39 weeksavailable to the parents combined.

> Mother takes maternity leave and SPL:


maternity pay and leave, return to

work and then take a further 13 weeks

of SPL and pay at the end of the

child’s first year. The father could take

ordinary paternity leave and no SPL.

Amount of leavethat can be taken

as SPL

How much leave can be taken and when?

Parents are entitled to share a maximum of

50 weeks of leave.

SPL can be taken at any time during a child’s first

year of life (other than the first two weeks afterbirth when the mother must take compulsory

maternity leave). It can be taken by either parent

at different times (subject to eligibility) or by

both parents at the same time and either as one

continuous block or several discontinuous blocks.

Mothers can take SPL immediately after maternity

leave or after returning to work.

For more information on what leave can be taken

and when, see our September briefing.

Two-week periodof compulsory

maternity leave

Any weeksof statutory

maternity/ adoption leave

the mother hastaken

Mother’s52 week period

of statutorymaternity/

adoptionleave


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For more information on shared parental

leave, click on the monthly bulletins below.

SPL overview (Jul 2014)

Eligibility to SPL and pay (Aug 2014)

SPL leave provisions (Sept 2014)

The question of enhanced pay (Oct 2014)

Conclusions

Employees expecting a baby or adopting

a child after 5 April 2015 will be legally

entitled to take SPL. Our research shows

that for many of these parents SPL will be

a valuable right, offering far more flexibility

to parents than current regimes. Take-up

is therefore likely to be significantly higher

than has been the case for the current

right to APL, although our research

indicates that single brief periods of SPL

are likely to be more popular with parentsthan long blocks of SPL.

The issue of take-up is a big one, not

just for employees but for employers too,

many of whom are looking at ways to

actively promote their diversity agenda,

and to increase flexibility and family-

friendly working. These issues are

increasingly important to branding as well

as workforce retention and recruitment.

SPL provides employers with a new and

potentially far-reaching opportunity to

further these objectives and enabling

employees to take SPL in practice is animportant element of this.

The availability of enhanced pay or

otherwise is a significant factor that will

influence the decision of both mothers

and fathers to take or not to take SPL,

and it is a key way for employers to

endorse the decision of employees who

do choose to take it. But it is not the only

factor that will contribute to employees’

decisions about SPL. Assessing the

role that enhanced pay has to play in

an organisation’s overall approach toSPL is therefore important. For many,

offering paid leave during SPL is a way

of demonstrating support for the new

right, and the value to employees may far

outweigh the financial cost of doing so.

With such a new type of leave, enhanced

pay should not sit alone as a motivator

and employers looking to leverage off the

benefits of the introduction of SPL need

also to ensure that employees are actively

encouraged and supported in taking SPL.

What employers should be doing now

> Develop a policy on SPL and a series of forms

for employees to complete in order to take

advantage of SPL.

> Consider whether to enhance pay for employees

taking SPL and, if so, by how much and for

how long as well as the interaction with current

maternity pay entitlements.

> Train management on the right to SPL and how

to approach requests for it.

> Inform the workforce about the right to SPL

and how to take it.

> Consider how the work of employees taking

leave will be covered.

> Decide how requests for multiple periods of

SPL will be approached (the employer does not

have to agree to these if they are made in the

same period of leave notice, but must agree

each request made in a single notice even if

more than one notice is given by the employee).

The availability of enhancedpay or otherwise is asignificant factor that will

influence the decision totake SPL.

The issue of take-upis a big one, not justfor employees but for

employers too.


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Key contacts

Simon Kerr-Davis

Managing Associate

Tel: (+44) 20 7456 5411

[email protected]

Gemma Parker

Senior PSL

Tel: +44 20 7456 5720

[email protected]

Nicola Rabson

Head of Employment & Incentives

London

Tel: (+44) 20 7456 5284

[email protected]

For more information about

the report or to discuss

the potential impact of

shared parental leave on

your business, please get

in touch with your regular

Linklaters contact or one ofthe following:

linklaters.com

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F / 1 1 .

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This publication is intended merely to highlight issues and not to be

comprehensive, nor to provide legal advice. Should you have any questions on

issues reported here or on other areas of law, please contact one of your regular

contacts, or contact the editors.

© Linklaters LLP. All Rights reserved 2014

Linklaters LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales

with registered number OC326345. It is a law firm authorised and regulated by

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