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Introduction to this document

Maternity leave or adoption leave curtailment notice

For either parent or adopter to be eligible for shared parental leave (SPL) and statutory shared parental pay (ShPP), the mother or adopter must have ended their entitlement to maternity or adoption leave and pay early, either by serving a curtailment notice or by returning to work early. Our curtailment notice enables employees to comply with the statutory provisions. All of the 52 weeks, bar the two-week period of compulsory maternity leave after birth, or the equivalent first two weeks of adoption leave, are available for sharing as SPL.

Return to work

A mother or adopter can end their maternity or adoption leave early by giving you eight weeks’ notice of their planned early return and then coming back to work. Once they’re back, they can then opt in to the SPL scheme. However, there’s a second way of opting in to the SPL scheme and this is by the employee serving a curtailment notice.

Curtailment notice

A mother or adopter can bring forward the date on which their maternity or adoption leave and pay ends by giving you a curtailment notice and, at the same time, either a Notice of Entitlement to Shared Parental Leave, or a declaration of consent and entitlement. A declaration of consent and entitlement is a written declaration given by the mother or adopter stating that their partner has given a notice of entitlement to their employer and they consent to the amount of SPL their partner intends to take. A curtailment notice must be in writing and it must state the date on which the mother or adopter wants their statutory maternity or adoption leave period and/or their statutory maternity pay (SMP) or statutory adoption pay (SAP) period to end. Our Maternity or Adoption Leave Curtailment Notice is straightforward and simply asks the employee to confirm these dates and then sign and date the form.

Statutory requirements

The leave curtailment date given by the employee must be at least one day after the end of the two-week compulsory maternity leave period (or at least two weeks after the start of the adoption leave period), at least eight weeks after the date on which the curtailment notice is submitted and at least one week before the last day of the additional maternity or adoption leave period. The pay curtailment date given must be at least one day after the end of the compulsory maternity leave period (or at least two weeks after the first day of the SAP payment period), at least eight weeks after the date on which the curtailment notice is submitted and at least one week before the last day of the SMP or SAP payment period. Our curtailment notice includes guidance notes setting out these rules so that there are no misunderstandings.

Implications

The maternity or adoption leave and pay periods will end on the curtailment date(s) stated and the balance of the leave and pay can then be shared between the mother or adopter and their partner as SPL and ShPP. However, serving a curtailment notice also enables the mother or adopter’s partner to potentially start taking SPL from as early as the birth of the child or the adoption placement date, and whilst the mother or adopter is still on maternity or adoption leave. This is because they can take SPL once the curtailment notice has been served.

Maternity allowance

If the employee is entitled to maternity allowance (MA) from the government rather than SMP from you, she must send a pay curtailment notice to the Department for Work and Pensions, as that’s who pays MA.