How Teachers can use Shared Parental Leave to stay off work for more than a year

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 maternity leave and convert the remaining leave to shared parental leave (SPL) you are no longer restricted by the maternity leave start date. Instead, the SPL Regulations state (Part 2 Chapter 1 paragraphs 6 and 7) that there are two restrictions around when SPL must end:

1. When all 52 weeks of leave are used

2. The day before the child’s first birthday

It is whichever of these comes first. Crucially the weeks that you return to work, over a school holiday, are not weeks of statutory leave - so these don’t count towards the 52. For most teachers we work with the babies first birthday is usually the event that comes first. 

Let’s take the example of a mother who starts her maternity leave on 01/06/26 after May half term, but her baby is not due until 21/06/26, and ends up being born on 29/06/26. The mother would take maternity leave until Oct HT, curtail and return to work for that week. She would then take SPL in three blocks, returning for Christmas and Easter. Due to those return periods by the time we reach 01/06/27 she has actually only taken 47 weeks of statutory leave - as 5 weeks were ordinary working weeks. This means that she can take an extra three weeks and return at the start of the week her baby turns 1 .

Remember, you must take SPL in whole weeks, so may not be able to get up to the exact date before your child's first birthday. 

We have found that this is one of the biggest areas in which schools push back on SPL paperwork - with HR staff commonly unaware that SPL is not restricted by the maternity leave start date. The legislation, however, is very clear as referenced above - and for those who have worked with us - we do always get there in the end! Your union should also be able to help with this if school are challenging it. Be confident in your rights - and don’t be put off by HR not being up to speed with it! 

Our SPL support packages (A, A+, B, B+) include full support once your forms go in if there are issues with your end date being accepted. We also offer a separate package C for those who have already applied themselves but are facing difficulties with their employer.