Inquiry launched to consider reform of statutory shared parental leave and paternity leave

Statutory shared parental leave was first introduced in 2015, but hasn't been a great success and take up is still low. Consequently, an inquiry has been launched by the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) to consider options to reform it and statutory paternity rights.

Overview - shared parental leave

Statutory shared parental leave is a period of leave that is available to eligible employees and their qualifying partners. It is designed to enable working parents to share leave in a flexible way. The rules, however, are complicated. 

The amount of shared parental leave available is calculated using the mother's entitlement to maternity or adoption leave (52 weeks). If they reduce their maternity or adoption leave then they, and/or their partner may opt into the shared parental leave system and take any remaining weeks as shared parental leave. 

To qualify, the employee (either the mother or their partner) must have been continuously employed for at least 26 weeks before the fifteenth week before the baby is due. 

Their partner must also be “economically active” which means that they must have worked (although not necessarily as an employee) and earned a minimum amount over a qualifying period. 

There are specific rules around how an employee who wants to take shared parental leave needs to notify their employer. Notices that need to be given to the employer include a “curtailment notice”, a “notice of entitlement”, and a “booking notice”. 

Employees who ask to take a single block of leave are entitled to take it. However, if an employee asks in a single notice to take leave in different blocks (for example, two weeks in June, three weeks in September etc.), their employer does not have to agree to it. 

Overview - paternity leave

Working fathers and same sex partners may be able to take up to two weeks' paid time off work at any point in the first year from childbirth or the date of placement of an adopted child. The leave can be taken in whole or be split up into two separate blocks of one week. 

To be entitled to statutory paternity leave following the birth of a child an employee must have been employed by the same employer for at least 26 weeks by the end of the fifteenth week before the expected week of childbirth and be:

• The biological father of the child; or
• Be married to the mother; or
• Be the civil partner of or be the partner of the child's mother. 

Employees must give their employer notice of their entitlement to take paternity leave before the fifteenth week before the expected week of childbirth. The employee must also then give notice of when they want to take paternity leave at least 28 days beforehand. 

What will the WEC inquiry look at?

The WEC states that the unequal division of childcaring responsibilities is a key driver of wider gender inequality and the gender pay gap. The inquiry will, therefore, examine options for reform of the statutory shared parental leave scheme and statutory paternity rights with the aim of identifying the most effective ways of incentivising more equal sharing of childcare and wider domestic responsibilities between mothers and their partners. 

To assist in their inquiry, the WEC has launched a call for evidence. They are seeking views on the following points:

• To what extent has the statutory shared parental leave scheme given parents choice and flexibility in how they share parenting responsibilities in the first year?
• What have been the longer-term equality impacts of the scheme, for example on equal sharing of responsibilities for children as they grow up, and wider domestic responsibilities?
• What have been the labour market impacts of the scheme, particularly for women?
• Why has take up of statutory shared parental leave been low and what could be done to increase take up?
• How can inequalities in take up of shared parental leave, including by ethnicity, income, qualification level and occupational status, be addressed?
• Are there potentially more effective alternatives to the current “maternal transfer” model of shared parental leave?
• Which countries have most effectively incentivised equal parenting and wider gender equality through their approaches to parental leave? What would be the costs and benefits of replicating these approaches in the UK? 

The call for evidence is open for submissions until Friday 31 January 2025. 

Our newsletters 

We publish monthly employment and education newsletters. If you'd like to be added to the mailing list, please let me know.