In addition to opting into the Shared Parental Leave system an employee will also need to book their leave by giving the University a period of leave notice using form CHRIS 75b.
This notice can be given at the same time as the opt-in notice (form CHRIS 75a), or it can be given later, as long as it is given at least 8 weeks before the start of the employee’s leave.
Once the HR Division receives an agreed application from an Institution, it will be dealt with as soon as possible, but a response will be provided no later than the 14th day after the leave request was made.
The period of leave notice can either give the dates the employee wants to take leave or, if the child has not been born yet (including in cases of surrogacy) or placed with the adopter, the notice can state the number of days after birth/placement that the employee wants the leave to start and end.
Each application may contain either (a) a single period of weeks of leave; or (b) two or more weeks of discontinuous leave, where the employee intends to return to work between periods of leave.
Shared Parental Leave can only be taken in complete weeks but may begin on any day of the week. For example, if a week of Shared Parental Leave began on a Tuesday it would finish on a Monday. Where an employee returns to work between periods of Shared Parental Leave, the next period of Shared Parental Leave can start on any day of the week.
An employee can give up to three periods of leave notices. This may enable the employee to take up to three separate blocks of Shared Parental Leave (although if an employee gives notice to vary or cancel a period of leave this will in most cases count as a further period of leave notice).
Continuous leave
A period of leave notice can be for a period of continuous leave, which means a notification of a number of weeks taken in a single unbroken period of leave (for example, six weeks in a row).
If the employee submits a period of leave notice requesting one continuous block of leave, the employee will be entitled to take the leave set out in the notice.
All applications for continuous leave will be confirmed in writing by the HR Division.