The Shared Parental Leave (SPL) scheme in Singapore allows both parents to share the responsibility of caregiving for a newborn child. With the phased roll-out of enhancements to Singapore's Shared Parental Leave (SPL) scheme since 1st April 2025, it is critical for employers to review and update their internal policies, systems and HR practices to ensure compliance with evolving statutory requirements. The revised SPL framework increases leave entitlements and reinforce the government's emphasis on shared caregiving responsibilities.
This blog provides employers with an overview of their legal obligations under the updated SPL scheme and lists out some of the steps that an employer can take to support implementation and compliance management.
Effective Dates of the shared parental leave Scheme
The new scheme is being implemented is phases. From 1st April 2025, eligible working parents are entitled to 6 weeks of SPL. The second phase will be effective from 1st April 2026 where eligible working parents are entitled to 10 weeks of SPL.
Who is Entitled to the Benefits under the shared parental leave?
Employees who fulfil the below eligibility criteria are entitled to the benefits.
- The child must be a Singapore citizen or must become a Singapore citizen within 12 months of birth. In case of an adopted child, if the child is not a Singapore citizen, at least one adoptive parent should be a Singapore citizen.
- In case of biological parents, the child's date of birth or estimated delivery date should be on or after 1st April 2025. In case of adoptive parents, the formal intent to adopt date should be on or after 1st April, 2025 and the child should be below 12 months of age before the formal intent to adopt date.
- The employee should be under the employment of an employer for a continuous period of 3 months before the child's date of birth or date of adoption.
The male employee should be legally married to the mother of the child between conception and birth or within 12 months from the birth of the child, inclusive of date of birth. Part-time employees fulfilling the eligibility criteria can also claim benefit under the scheme.
For more details, please refer to
https://www.profamilyleave.msf.gov.sg/schemes/shared-parental-leave#whoIsEligible
Notice Requirement
Employees must notify their employers at least 4 weeks in advance of taking SPL. Employers can refuse to grant any benefit to employees who do not fulfil the notice requirement.
Permitted Leave Patterns
- Employers should permit employees to take leave only within the period of 12 months from the child's birth. However, the leave should be granted only after completing maternity or paternity leave.
- The leave can be taken in one continuous block or non-continuously if there is an agreement between the employer and employee. Where there is no such agreement, the leave must be taken in one continuous block within 26 weeks from child's date of birth (inclusive of date of birth).
Employer Compliance
- Update internal leave policies
Clearly define SPL entitlements (6 weeks from 1 Apr 2025; 10 weeks from 1 Apr 2026), eligibility criteria, and leave patterns in company policies as per the current legal framework. - Implement Robust Leave Management
Tracking
Have systems in place to track leave requests, approvals and the overall leave balance in the parental leave category for each employee. This will help prevent overlap with other types of parental leave like maternity and paternity leave and ensure compliance with SPL requirements. - Train HR Personnel
Conduct training for HR personnel on the new SPL rules, including understanding eligibility, leave patterns, leave application procedures and reimbursement processes. - Record maintenance
Maintain records of claims of payment or reimbursement from the Government for at least 5 years. - Employee Communication
Notify employees of the SPL scheme and ensure they understand their rights, responsibilities and how to apply for leave. Discuss leave plan with concerned employee during expectancy of child. - Verify Leave Sharing on the Government
Portal
Verify your employee's leave sharing arrangement via the Government -Paid leave portal, within 4 weeks after childbirth. - Payment of salary to employees
Have processes in place to pay employees who are on shared parental leave, their gross rate of pay for each day of absence from work.
Reimbursement Claim Process
Employers can claim reimbursement from government of the amount paid to their employees under the SPL scheme. The Government reimbursement is capped at the rate of SGD 2,500 per week.
Employers should claim the reimbursement within 3 months from the last day of their employee's shared parental leave, through the Government-paid leave portal.
What Employers Need to Do:
- Track and document SPL payments made to eligible employees.
- Submit claims promptly to avoid missing the reimbursement deadline.
Conclusion
The updated SPL scheme introduces important changes that employers must be prepared for. Ensuring compliance involves:
- Updating internal HR policies,
- Implementing reliable tracking systems,
- Training staff, and
- Retaining records as required by law.
By taking these steps, employers can manage SPL efficiently while meeting their compliance obligations and supporting a smooth transition for employees during their parental responsibilities.
While the primer serves as a helpful internal tool and resources are available on the relevant Ministry websites (for instance, https://www.profamilyleave.msf.gov.sg/schemes/shared-parental-leave) it is equally important for organisations to be able to track and perform these tasks seamlessly and be able to produce documentary evidence of compliance for reimbursement claims and when required by auditors, the board or regulators. In short, proof that they have complied with the regulatory obligations as non-compliance can lead to a penalty of up to SGD 5000 or imprisonment for a term of up to 6 months or both.
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The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
