Employers aren’t ready for shared parental leave

New provisions allowing parents to share parental leave come into force in October and December this year. These will be available to parents in England, Scotland and Wales who will give birth to or adopt a child after April 5 next year. It seems that employers are still not catching on but they need to prepare for this change in the rules if it is going to work.

Shared Parental Leave (SPL) is a major feature of the Children and Families Act 2014, designed to advance women’s labour force participation and the sharing of childcare more equally between parents. According to business minister Jo Swinson this initiative will “bring the ways mums and dads balance their lives at work and at home into the 21st century.” It will help implement the government’s commitments to modernise workplaces, as announced by employment relation minister Jenny Willot who said they “want these reforms to bring about a culture change in Britain’s workplaces, allowing everyone to better balance work with their personal life in the way that works for them.