Once an employee has submitted a notice of entitlement for shared parental leave (SPL), you can ask them to provide certain supplementary documentation and information as set out in our letter requesting evidence for shared parental leave.
Birth cases
Within 14 days, beginning with the date on which the employee’s notice of entitlement was given, you are entitled to ask them to provide:
The employee then has 14 days beginning with the date of your request in which to provide the requested documentation and information. If, however, your request is made before the date of birth, the employee must provide the copy of the child’s birth certificate within 14 days from the date of birth or, if this has not been issued at that point, a signed declaration from them stating the child’s date and place of birth and that a birth certificate has not yet been issued.
adoption cases
In the case of adoption, the evidence that you can request is:
Again, the employee has 14 days to comply.
Voluntary request
You don’t legally have to request this documentation and information if you don’t want to, but it can provide important evidence to substantiate the employee’s claim to entitlement to SPL. You can use our Letter Requesting Evidence for SPL to make your request.