Calling all UK parents! There is going to be a great change in UK legislation on Sunday 5th April 2015, whereby parents who are eligible will be able to take advantage of Shared Parental Leave. That’s right it doesn’t have to be the lady who stays at home with the child any longer because the men will be able to take paternity leave looking after and bonding with their child in the first year of their lives.
You may be eligible for Shared Parental Leave if you are a parent, partner or have become adoptive parents.This means that parents will now be able to choose who goes back to work once the baby is born and certainly does wonders for equality. In many households the female is the main provider and often wants to continue with her career as soon as possible.
I wish this had have been in place when I had my children, I really believe in the importance of bonding and spending quality time with your new little one from day one. Although my husband did get 10 days off work when our boys were born, we both found it was not enough, the time just flew by leaving me at home to spend with our little family never really realising just how much my husband felt he was missing out on precious bonding time. We both realised that someone had to earn a wage to pay our mortgage, yet we both would have welcomed extra time together to bond.
Shared Parenting Leave is the future.
So what does this now mean for couples with new born babies?
- Well, new fathers are currently only able to take 1 to 2 weeks of paid leave off work and up to 26 weeks paid additional paternity leave – but only if the Mother or co-adopter returns to work.
- From 5th April 2015,Maternity cover can be split, giving them the chance to either take time to care for their child,or split the leave so that the mother can return to work.Couples adopting a child are also entitled to the same rights as other parents to parental leave.
Whenever new legislation comes into force, there are always questions that need answering. To save you hunting around the web looking through numerous sites to find those answers, Citrix GoToMeeting have produced this very informative iconographic that gives you all the information you need on Shared Parental Leave in the UK.
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