The Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has released a new online tool to help expectant parents share time off in the early stages of their baby's life.

The new tool gives parents easy access to the shared parental leave and pay scheme, a way to check their eligibility, a system to calculate their pay entitlement and documents they need to secure leave from their employer.

With shared parental leave, working parents can share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay so one of them is always home with their child in the first year of their life.

Alternatively, eligible parents can spend up to six months off work together.

Jane Gratton, head of people policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said:

"Shared parental leave supports parents to balance family and career priorities and helps employers retain skills.

"This tool is a welcome initiative that will hopefully simplify the shared parental leave process, improve access and take-up, and encourage diversity in the workplace."

Reach out to us to talk about shared parental leave and pay.