Take-up of shared parental leave has been slow since its introduction in 2015 due principally to affordability concerns amongst employees, according to a new survey by XpertHR. The median number of eligible employees per organisation was four and a third of organisations had received at least one request for parental leave. However, in half of these cases, the organisations concerned had received only one request.
Employers that enhance shared parental pay with contractual pay are twice as likely to receive a request for shared leave. There is little evidence that introducing shared leave is boosting the caring role of fathers; only one in ten employers in the survey agrees or strongly agrees that the new right has been successful in achieving this objective. However, amongst the small numbers opting for leave, the amount taken was greater than that forecast by the government, with a median of 12 weeks per employee.
Michael Carty, benchmarking editor at XpertHR, said:
‘Shared parental leave is a welcome addition to the range of family-friendly options available to working parents. But uptake in the first year has been low, with affordability concerns putting off many eligible parents.’