Acas Publishes Shared Parental Leave Materials

Acas has published a good practice guide for employers and employees on shared parental leave, together with template documents for employers to use.

The guide, Shared Parental Leave: a good practice guide for employers and employees, offers practical guidance to employers on how to deal with shared parental leave (SPL) requests and recommends that:

• Employers have an informal discussion to raise the issue of SPL when an employee informs them they are pregnant or have been matched for adoption;
• Employers arrange an informal discussion about SPL plans upon receiving a notification of entitlement to SPL; and
• Employers consider at an early stage what leave pattern is being proposed and what impact this might have on the business and how this might be mitigated.

The guide also explains the employer’s legal obligations in connection with SPL.

For employees, the guidance sets out the factors they should take into account when considering whether SPL is right for them and the steps they need to take if they wish to take SPL. 

In addition to the guidance, Acas has published template documents for employers including: 

• A shared parental leave policy; 
• Letter confirming employee’s entitlement to SPL; 
• Letter confirming SPL booking; 
• Letter inviting employee to discuss SPL booking request; and 
• Letter refusing a booking request for discontinuous SPL.

The Acas guidance supplements the technical guidance for employers issued by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills earlier this month. 

The guide and other materials are available on the Acas website.  

SPL will be available in respect of babies due to be born or placed for adoption on or after 5 April 2015.