Advocate Lizzie Beard considers the new parental leave rights available to employees on the Isle of Man as of 1 November 2025.

As of 1 November 2025, the final provisions of the Employment (Amendment) Act 2024 of Tynwald are now in place, namely the introduction of Shared Parental Leave (SPL). This is a welcome, albeit fairly complex, development for employees which aims to offer a more realistic reflection of modern family dynamics.

What is Shared Parental Leave?

As was the case prior to the introduction of SPL, there is a compulsory maternity leave period of two weeks under employment legislation. This compulsory maternity leave must be taken in the two weeks immediately following your child’s birth. The remaining 50 weeks of maternity/adoption leave can now be shared between you and your partner under the SPL provisions.

Maternity leave and SPL cannot be taken in conjunction. You must “curtail” your maternity leave in order to take advantage of SPL and once you have opted in to SPL you cannot resume your maternity leave at a later date.

The SPL allowance is identical to the current maternity allowance, namely a flat rate of £250 per week for a total of 39 weeks (although note that in reality this is 37 weeks once you factor in the two weeks of compulsory maternity leave). As with maternity leave, under legislation you have the right to the leave, not the right to be paid for this leave by your employer.

Who is eligible?

SPL looks at the eligibility of the primary carer (the mother or adopter) and the father or the primary carer’s “partner”. For the purpose of SPL “partner” means the person who the mother or adopter is married to, in a civil partnership with or who the mother or adopter is living with.

As primary carer you must meet a continuity of service threshold whilst your partner must satisfy an “employment and earnings test” in order to qualify for SPL. It is your responsibility to check if you are eligible for SPL and you and your partner must provide a written declaration confirming your eligibility to your employer. Your partner’s employer will also need to be provided with similar declarations. Employers are under no legal obligation to validate your eligibility so if you are in any doubt as to your eligibility for SPL, it is always best to seek legal advice.

How do I calculate my Shared Parental Leave?

52 weeks
(less) 2 weeks compulsory maternity leave immediately following birth/adoption placement
(less) any maternity leave taken
= “pool” of leave left to be taken as SPL and shared between you and your partner
SPL must be taken within the first 12 months of your baby’s life/adoption placement

How do I tell my employer?

Under the legislation there are a series of notices that must be provided to your employer. These include:

• Curtailment notice – this should indicate when your maternity leave will end and should be sent to your employer 8 weeks before the maternity leave period is due to end.
• Opt-in notice – this is a non-binding notice of your intention to opt in to SPL (usually provided alongside the curtailment notice).
• Booking notice – this notice must finalise the leave to be taken and should be provided to your employer at least 8 weeks in advance of your SPL. Where you request a singular continuous block of leave, the employer cannot refuse your request. Where you request a discontinuous block of leave, there will be a two-week discussion period following which you will have 5 days to confirm what leave will be taken as SPL.

*Regulations dictate that you can only give a total of 3 notices to book leave (including variations to previous booking notices) so it is important that as a family unit you are clear on your desired outcome and options available from the outset.

The information required for these various notifications and declarations of eligibility is fairly extensive and can be found in the “Notification requirements” section of the Shared Parental Leave Guide produced by the Department for Enterprise.

The future of Shared Parental Leave

The Island’s introduction of Shared Parental Leave has brought with it an opportunity for families to take a much more flexible and modern approach to childcare and work. But with a somewhat onerous notification system for employees to navigate during what can already be a very overwhelming period, the extent of uptake in Shared Parental Leave here is yet to be seen. Shared Parental Leave was first introduced in the UK in 2014 and has had a low take up.

Advocate Lizzie Beard is a member of M&P Legal’s employment team. This article is not legal advice. Always seek specific legal advice on the facts of each particular case.

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