Maternity / Paternity
Employees may be able to get Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) if they’ve had a baby or adopted a child.
Indigo Hair & Beauty follows UK Gov and ACAS guidance in relation to maternity / paternity pay/leave.
Parental Leave
Eligible employees can take unpaid parental leave to look after their child’s welfare, for example to:
- spend more time with their children
- look at new schools
- settle children into new childcare arrangements
- spend more time with family, such as visiting grandparents
Your employment rights (like the right to pay, holidays and returning to a job) are protected during parental leave.
Entitlement
Parental leave is unpaid. You’re entitled to 18 weeks’ leave for each child and adopted child, up to their 18th birthday.
The limit on how much parental leave each parent can take in a year is 4 weeks for each child (unless the employer agrees otherwise).
You must take parental leave as whole weeks (eg 1 week or 2 weeks) rather than individual days, unless your employer agrees otherwise or if your child is disabled. You don’t have to take all the leave at once.
A ‘week’ equals the length of time an employee normally works over 7 days.
Example
If an employee works 3 days a week, one ‘week’ of parental leave equals 3 days. If an employee works irregular weeks the number of days in a ‘week’ is the total number of days they work a year divided by 52.
Employees qualify if all of these apply:
- they’ve been in the company for more than a year
- they’re named on the child’s birth or adoption certificate or they have or expect to have parental responsibility
- they’re not self-employed or a ‘worker’, eg an agency worker or contractor
- they’re not a foster parent (unless they’ve secured parental responsibility through the courts)
- the child is under 18
Employers can ask for proof (like a birth certificate) as long as it’s reasonable to do so, eg they can’t ask for proof each time an employee requests leave.
Indigo Hair & Beauty may extend parental leave to those groups who aren’t eligible. Discuss any individual circumstances with the Salon Manager.