Partner Article

Shared Parental Leave Could See Families Lose Money Warns Nottingham HR Agency

Following new rules on shared parental leave, some families could be losing money if mothers decide to return to work after their two weeks statutory maternity leave, warns Nottingham based Peak HR.

PeakHR’s managing director, Cheryl Willey has highlighted that, whereas new mothers are entitled to 90 per cent of their full pay for the first six weeks of statutory maternity leave, fathers are only entitled up to £139.58 a week.

New rules on the right to shared parental leave (SPL) state that if a couple has had a baby after April 5 this year, they can end maternity leave/pay early so that one or both parents can take leave in a more flexible way during the baby’s first year.

Managing director at PeakHR, Cheryl Willey, said: “If a mother decides to return to work after their mandatory maternity leave, it could mean that a family would lose out if the father swapped time off as he would only receive the statutory rate of £139.58 a week and miss out on 90 per cent of mother’s usual earnings.

“The last thing that new parents need, is to be worried about what money and leave they are entitled to. At PeakHR, we understand how stressful the whole process from requests to returning to work can be. We can either offer expert advice along the way or also offer private fully managed service to make sure every single parents gets everything they are entitled to.”

A couple can only start Shared Parental Leave once the child has been born and the mother has ended any maternity leave by returning to work or if she has given her employer ‘binding notice’ of the date when they plan to end any maternity or adoption leave.

Cheryl added: “The Shared Parental Leave is a great benefit in a diverse modern workforce as more women are becoming the main bread winners in a family and it is also useful for flexibility after a child is born. We would advise any new parent to get in touch with us to chat about their options and to make sure they know everything they are entitled to. We can take some of the stress away so parents can enjoy more time with their new arrivals.”

For more information, please visit: http://www.peakhr.co.uk/

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Poppy-PR .