Shared Parental Leave
New Shared Parental Leave (for parents of babies born from 1 April 2025)
The new SPL scheme will apply for parents of babies born from 1 April 2025. This new SPL scheme will provide eligible parents with 10 weeks of paid parental leave to be shared between both parents, on top of existing GPML, AL and Government-Paid Paternity Leave (GPPL) entitlements. This will be implemented in two phases:
- Eligible working parents with SC children born on or adopted on or after 1 April 2025 will be eligible for six weeks of SPL.
- This will be increased to 10 weeks of SPL for eligible working parents with SC children born on or adopted on or after 1 April 2026.
With the 10 weeks of new SPL, 16 weeks of GPML and four weeks of GPPL, working parents will have a total of 30 weeks of paid leave to care for their children during the infancy stage, when care needs are the greatest.
Notes:
- The new SPL scheme, which applies to parents of babies born on or after 1 April 2025, will replace the previous 2013-Shared Parental Leave (2013-SPL) scheme, and parents of other children born before 1 April 2025 may be eligible for the 2013-SPL scheme. Please refer to https://www.profamilyleave.msf.gov.sg/schemes/2013-shared-parental-leave for further details on the 2013-SPL scheme.
- Parents of children with an Estimated Date of Delivery (EDD) that is on or after 1 April 2025, but were born before 1 April 2025, will also be eligible for the new SPL scheme.
Eligibility criteria:
• Working parents who are eligible for GPML, AL or GPPL, will also be eligible for the new SPL scheme.
Key features of the new SPL scheme:
- Employees planning to take the new SPL must provide their employers with a minimum notice period of four weeks. This notice period allows employers to make covering arrangements for employees on leave. Notwithstanding the notice period, we encourage employees to inform their employers of their parental leave plans as early as possible. Employers and employees can also mutually agree on a shorter notice period if needed. These apply to GPML, GPPL and AL too.
- By default, the new SPL will be equally allocated between parents (i.e. three weeks per parent from 1 April 2025 – 31 March 2026, five weeks per parent from 1 April 2026). However, parents have the flexibility to discuss and reallocate their share of the leave to each other, based on the caregiving arrangement that is most suited for their families’ needs. Parents who wish to change their SPL sharing arrangement can do so within the first four weeks of their child’s birth via LifeSG. Parents who need to change their SPL sharing arrangement after the first four weeks of their child’s birth, can only do so if they have obtained their employers’ agreement.
- The new SPL should be consumed within the first 12 months of the child’s birth. Parents and their employers should come to a mutual agreement on the leave plans. In the absence of a mutual agreement, parents can take SPL in a continuous block (after GPML, AL or GPPL) within the first 26 weeks of the child’s birth, after giving at least four weeks’ notice.
- All 10 weeks of SPL will be paid by the Government, up to the prevailing reimbursement cap of $2,500 per week.
Visit https://www.profamilyleave.msf.gov.sg/schemes/shared-parental-leave to find out more about the new SPL scheme and FAQs pertaining to it.
2013-Shared Parental Leave (for parents of babies born before 1 April 2025)
Parents of babies born before 1 April 2025 are eligible for the previous 2013-SPL. Under the 2013-SPL scheme, if there is mutual agreement between husband and wife, a wife can share up to four weeks of her 16-week Government-Paid Maternity Leave (GPML) or 12-week Adoption Leave (AL) for Mothers, with her husband.
The 2013-SPL must be taken within 12 months from the day your child is born. The leave should be taken in one continuous block or in blocks of weeks. If there is mutual agreement between you and your employer, you can take 2013-SPL non-continuously.
2013-SPL is paid by the Government. Reimbursement is capped at $2,500 per week i.e., total of $10,000 for four weeks. The caps include CPF contributions.
Eligibility criteria: You are eligible for the 2013-SPL scheme if you are a working father (or self-employed), and your child is born on or after 1 July 2017 and before 1 April 2025.
You must also meet all the following criteria:
- Your child is a Singapore Citizen (SC) at birth;
- You are legally married to your child’s mother within 12 months from your child’s date of birth;
- Your wife qualifies for GPML and she agrees to share her leave with you;
- You are lawfully married to the child's mother sometime between conception and birth.
If you are an adoptive father and are working or self-employed, you are eligible for SPL if you meet all the following criteria:
- You have made a joint application with the child’s adoptive mother to adopt the child;
- Your wife qualifies for AL for Mothers and she agrees to share her leave with you;
- You are lawfully married to the child's mother on or before she declares her intention to share her AL for Mothers with you;
- If your child is not a SC, either you or your child’s adoptive mother is a SC on the Dependant’s Pass issue date;
- You are not the biological father of the child.
Visit https://www.profamilyleave.msf.gov.sg/schemes/2013-shared-parental-leave for more details on the application process for 2013-SPL.