STATUTORY MATERNITY PAY (SMP)
To qualify for SMP you must have been:
- employed by the company without a break for at least 26 weeks into the 15th week before the week your baby is due
- and meet the lower earnings limit (LEL) for National Insurance contributions.
SMP rate is:
- 90% of your average weekly earnings (for the purpose of this Contract 17 weeks preceding the first day of leave) for the first six weeks of your maternity leave
- for the remaining 33 weeks either £ [check with your payroll or HMRC on current rate] per week or 90% per cent of your average earnings (for the purpose of this Contract 17 weeks preceding the first day of leave), if this 90% rate is less than £[as above] per week.
- PATERNITY LEAVE
To qualify for leave, you must tell the company in writing at least 15 weeks before the beginning of the week when the baby is due:
- when the baby is due
- whether you want one or two weeks leave
- when you want the leave to start
You can change the date that the leave starts, as long as you give the company 28 days written notice.
If you are the biological father of the child, or are the mother’s husband or partner (including a mother’s partner in a same-sex relationship) and
- have been employed by the company for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the beginning of the week when the baby’s due and
- will be fully involved in the child’s upbringing and are taking the time off to support the mother or care for the baby
then this leave is paid if you earn at least the lower earnings limit (LEL) for National Insurance contributions.
If you earn less than the LEL you have the right to unpaid paternity leave.
You can take either one or two weeks paternity leave. You cannot take odd days off, and if you take two weeks they must be taken together.
You can choose to start the leave on the day the baby is born, a number of days or weeks after the baby is born from a specific date after the first day of the week in which the baby is expected to be born.
Your leave can start on any day of the week (but not before the baby is born), but has to finish within 56 days of the baby being born or, if the baby is born before the week it was due, within 56 days of the first day of that week.
If your partner has a multiple birth, you are only allowed one period of paternity leave.
In the event your baby dies, provided you meet all the other conditions, you can still take paternity leave if your child is:
- stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy
- born alive at any point of the pregnancy
If you take paternity leave, and meet the lower earnings limit (LEL), you will be paid statutory paternity pay (SPP) during your leave.
STATUTORY PATERNITY PAY (SPP)
The amount of SPP is £ [enter current rate] or 90% of your average weekly earnings (for the purpose of this Contract 17 weeks preceding the first day of leave) if this is lower.
You must give the company 28 days notice of the date on which you want SPP to start.
- PARENTAL LEAVE
You have the right to parental leave if you:
- have been employed by the company for a year or more and
- you are a parent named on the child’s birth certificate or
- you are named on the child’s adoption certificate or
- you have legal parental responsibility for a child under five (18 if disabled)
For those who qualify entitlement is 18 weeks leave for every child, the leave to be taken by the 5th birthday (or up to five years after the placement date of an adopted child) and 18 weeks for each disabled child, up to the child’s 18th birthday.
No more than 4 weeks can be taken in any one year. Leave must be taken in blocks of one week.
You must give the company 21 days notice in writing of your intention to apply for the leave.
This leave is unpaid.
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