Associate Handbook 2018

In order to qualify for the right to shared parental leave the Associate must also fulfil the following conditions:

a) they must have at least 26 weeks continuous employment with the Company by the end of the Qualifying Week, and still be employed by the Company in the week before the leave is to be taken; b) the other parent must have worked (in an employed or self-employed capacity) in at least 26 of the 66 weeks before the Expected Week of Childbirth and had average weekly earnings of at least £30 during 13 of those weeks; and c) they and the other parent must give the necessary statutory notices and declarations as summarised below, including notice to end any maternity leave, statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance periods. The total amount of shared parental leave available is 52 weeks, less the weeks spent by the child's mother on maternity leave (or the weeks in which the mother has been in receipt of statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance if she is not entitled to maternity leave). Shared parental leave is additional to the statutory right to two weeks' paternity leave and if an Associate is the child's father or mother's partner they should consider using their two weeks' paternity leave before taking shared parental leave. Once an Associate exercises their right to shared parental leave they will no longer be entitled to take paternity leave.

Opting into Shared Parental Leave

Shared parental leave cannot start until at least two weeks after an Associate's child is born.

In order to qualify for the right to shared parental leave, no later than eight weeks before the date an Associate intends their shared parental leave to start, they must give the Company a written opt-in notice giving:

a)

their name and the name of the other parent;

b) if they are the child's mother, the start and end dates of their maternity leave;

c) if they are the child's father or the mother's partner, the start and end dates of the mother's maternity leave, or if she is not entitled to maternity leave, the start and end dates of any statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance period; d) the total shared parental leave available, which is 52 weeks minus the number of weeks maternity leave, statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance period taken or to be taken; e) how much of that will be allocated to them and how much to the other parent (they can change the allocation by giving the Company a further written notice, and they do not have to use their full allocation); f) if they are claiming statutory shared parental pay, the total shared parental pay available, which is 39 weeks minus the number of weeks of the statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance period taken or to be taken;