SPL, combined with returns for the holidays, allows you to stay off until the day before baby turns 1 Can teachers use shared parental leave to stay off work for longer than on maternity/ adoption leave? It all depends on when you start your leave - but if you are taking a week or more off work before the baby is actually born/ child is placed then yes you will be able to extend your leave up to babies first birthday/ one year from matching date. When you curtail your materni

If I had a pound for every time I have heard this myth… I probably wouldn’t be writing this blog! It persist like some kind of folk lore amongst teachers – this idea that you must return to work for a day, a few days, a week… in order to be paid for the upcoming school holiday. Similarly we are frequently asked if it’s ok to start your leave on the first day of a term, or whether you might lose your pay for the holiday just passed if you don’t go back in for at least one day.

There are two eligibility thresholds for SPL - a higher one for the parent who wishes to use SPL, and a lower one for the parent who is sharing responsibility for the child but isn’t intending to take any shared parental leave themselves. The higher threshold is the same as the one for maternity leave - you must have completed 26 weeks of work with the same employer by the qualifying week (15 weeks before the due date). The government website has a handy eligibility checker