PLANNING LEAVE AS A COUPLE
Sharing parental leave, together
See how the statutory pay works out when two parents share the leave — each parent's pay and your combined household income, on the split you choose. Information and eligibility, with official GOV.UK links. Nothing is saved.
After the birth parent takes some of their own maternity leave, the rest of the statutory pool can be shared between you both. Enter each of your salaries and how you'd like to divide the shared weeks, and we'll picture each parent's pay and your combined income. It's an illustration on your own numbers — it clears when you leave.
What we assumed
- Each parent's average weekly earnings estimated as their annual pay ÷ 52 — a rough stand-in for the real 8-week reference period we can't see.
- Shared Parental Pay of the lower of the statutory flat rate or 90% of each parent's earnings, for the weeks you allocate to each — figures from the current tax-year rules.
- The birth parent's own weeks are shown at that same Shared Parental Pay rate — a deliberately cautious floor. If they instead take their first 6 weeks as Statutory Maternity Pay (90% of earnings, uncapped), those weeks would pay more; the parental-leave planner pictures that single-parent view.
- Statutory pay only — no employer top-up, tax or National Insurance is modelled here, so your take-home will differ.
- Shared Parental Leave and Pay is UK-wide; the amounts change each April, so GOV.UK is the place to confirm your own position and eligibility.
Check on GOV.UK
Every link here goes to GOV.UK — the official government service. Shared Parental Leave has notice rules and eligibility conditions for both parents, and the pay rates change each April, so checking your own position and dates on GOV.UK is always worth doing.