What you need to know
Shared Parental Leave gives you more flexibility in considering how best to share the care of your child in the first year following birth or adoption.
It is important that you have read and understood JSP 760 - Tri-Service Regulations for Leave and Other Types of Absences (chapter 27) before proceeding.
It can only be used by the child’s 2 parents. To qualify:
- one parent must be the mother, adopter or Parental Order parent in a surrogacy arrangement, and the other parent must be the father of the child or the spouse, civil partner or partner of the child’s mother, adopter or Parental Order parent
- the parents must share the main responsibility for the care of the child at the time of the birth or placement for adoption
- the Service person needs to satisfy the Continuity of Employment Test and the other parent needs to satisfy the Employment and Earnings Test to qualify
If you wish to take Shared Parental Leave, you must also satisfy each of the following criteria:
- the mother or primary adopter must have an entitlement to the Armed Forces Maternity Scheme or the Armed Forces Occupational Leave Scheme, or to Statutory Maternity Pay or Statutory Adoption Pay
- you must have ended or given notice to reduce any maternity or adoption leave entitlements in accordance with (d) below
- you must still be serving in the Armed Forces at the start of each period of Shared Parental Leave
- you must correctly notify your Commanding Officer of your eligibility for Shared Parental Leave and provide the necessary evidence
What you need to do
Once your forms and documentations have been submitted, your Unit HR Admin will verify these. They will ensure that no current absence already exists during the proposed ShPL absence. If an absence exists during this period, this must be cancelled by the Unit HR before submission of ShPL documentation to the JPAC.
Following this, a Commanding Officer will authorise or reject the request for ShPL. They will complete the relevant parts in JPA R007 and return to the Unit HR Admin for final checking.
Once agreed by your line manager, book your leave by completing part F of JPA Form R007 and submitting it to your Line Manager by email, giving at least 15 weeks notice (8 weeks if you’re in the Services) of the start of the leave period.
