Expected to take effect for parents of children born or placed for adoption on or after 5^th April 2015.

The new proposed system will enable mothers to share 50 weeks of their 52 weeks maternity leave and 37 weeks of their 39 weeks statutory maternity pay with their partner when they opt into it.

Some key points from the proposals are:

• The mother and her partner can take their leave together if they wish, or take it in succession.
• Each parent will have the right to have up to 20 ‘Keeping in touch’ (KIT) days during SPL (this is in addition to the ten days allowed during maternity and adoption leave).
• Employees who have taken SPL will have the right to return to the same job if the total leave taken is 26 weeks or less in aggregate, even if the leave is taken in discontinuous blocks.