Respond to an employee's request to take shared parental leave and pay in an adoption situation where the employee is the main adopter's partner

Key points

The notice requirements for employees who wish to take shared parental leave and pay are complex. Employers should put in place procedures for dealing with such requests.
Where the employee is the partner of the main adopter, they can take shared parental leave only if the main adopter has curtailed their adoption leave or returned to work. (Where a couple is adopting a child together, the main adopter is whichever of them has elected to be the child's adopter for the purposes of taking adoption leave.)
The employee must provide their employer with a notice of entitlement and intention to take shared parental leave and a period of leave notice, within the required time frame. Similar notice requirements apply for statutory shared parental pay.
Employees can request either a single block of leave or discontinuous periods of leave. The employer can reject the leave pattern requested in some circumstances.