Shared parental leave and pay and flexible working in Northern Ireland

23 January 2015

The Work and Families (Northern Ireland) Act 2015 has received Royal Assent and comes into full legal effect on 5 April 2015.

The Northern Ireland (NI) provisions for Shared Parental Leave (SPL) contained in the Act mirror the provisions as those in Great Britain, which are contained in the Children and Families Act 2014 and the Shared Parental Leave Regulations 2014/3050.

There is only one exception to this; namely where there is an interface with the Welfare Reform Proposals, as these have not yet been implemented in NI. As and when these are implemented, the NI provisions on SPL will be amended accordingly. Thank you to Pinsent Masons for this detail.