Union Mail – February 2015: Shared Parental Leave/Expression of Wish

Shared Parental Leave

The new law on Shared Parental Leave, which came into force in December 2014, will enable eligible parents whose children are due to be born or placed for adoption on or after 5 April 2015, to share up to 50 weeks leave.  This is a welcome addition to the range of family-friendly leave options and will give parents more choice and flexibility in how they share childcare during their child’s first year.

The key points are:

• Employed mothers will continue to be entitled to 52 weeks of Maternity Leave and 39 weeks of statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance.
• If they choose to do so, an eligible mother can end her maternity leave early and, with her partner or the child’s father, opt for Shared Parental Leave instead of Maternity Leave.  If they both meet the qualifying requirements, they will need to decide how they want to divide their Shared Parental Leave and Pay entitlement.
• Requests for Shared Parental Leave must be given 8 weeks in advance and agreed with their employer.
• Requests can be for a continuous period of leave or blocks of alternative leave and periods back at work (discontinuous leave).
• Paid Paternity Leave of two weeks will continue to be available to fathers and a mother’s or adopter’s partner.
• Adopters will have the same rights as other parents to Shared Parental leave and pay.

At Nationwide, employees remain eligible for enhanced maternity pay of 14 weeks at full pay while on Maternity Leave.

There is no enhanced pay provision for employees taking Shared Parental Leave and therefore pay will be an important factor when deciding when to switch from Maternity Leave to Shared Parental Leave.

The legislation provides considerable flexibility in choosing how to take Shared Parental Leave but requests must be agreed with an employer and can be declined if there are operational constraints. It is likely that requests for discontinuous leave will prove most challenging to agree and therefore we recommend that members submit such requests at the earliest opportunity to allow for full discussion. Where a request for discontinuous leave is declined a default position of taking leave as a continuous block applies and this cannot be denied.

The Becoming A Parent Policy has been updated to reflect the Shared Parental Leave entitlements. The Policy and Manager/Employee Guides can be found in the HR Policy Point on the intranet or the NGSU website (Help at Work/HR Policies).

Antenatal Appointments

In October 2014, a new legal right was introduced enabling partners to take unpaid leave to attend up to two antenatal appointments. We are pleased to confirm that Nationwide and NGSU have agreed that this entitlement will be available as paid leave with immediate effect.  Employees can also request holiday or unpaid leave to attend further antenatal appointments.

Tim Poil
General Secretary

Pensions Schemes – Expression of Wish

Employees who are members of the Nationwide Pension Fund (NPF) or Group Personal Pension (GPP) schemes are able to provide details of who they would like to receive their pension benefits in the event of their death.  This can be done very simply by completing an Expression of Wish form in respect of the NPF or a Nomination Form for the GPP scheme.

Although not binding, your wishes will be taken into account when deciding who to pay your benefits to and therefore it is important to submit your wishes and keep them up to date.

The appropriate forms and associated guidance can be downloaded from these links:

Nationwide Pension Fund

http://www.nationwidepensionfund.co.uk/home/documents

Group Personal Pension

http://www.friendslife.co.uk/doclib/mpen19j.pdf

Tim Poil
General Secretary

No Vote – No Voice

NGSU is supporting the drive to help raise awareness of voter registration in advance of the General Election on Thursday 7 May 2015.  NGSU has no political affiliation and believes that members should vote for whoever best represents their views but we strongly urge everyone to register and use their vote.  It is easy to register online and takes just a few minutes.

Registering in England, Scotland and Wales

Registering in Northern Ireland

Last Chance to Win a Holiday in Dubai

Hurry – the closing date to win a free holiday/cruise for two in Dubai from the NGSU Travel Club is 13 February 2015!

Details of how to enter can be found in the members’ section of the travel club website www.ngsutravelclub.co.uk.

The competition is only open to NGSU members.

The Travel Club offers discounts to NGSU members and their families – call on 0800 9531 263 or 01422 847 847 to find how out how much you can save.

The Travel Club is operated by Benchmark Travel – ABTA J8828.

NGSU Website and Forum

A number of members have been asking us when the Forum, our online chat room, will be up and running again.

We’re pleased to say that development work is now underway and we hope to launch a new version of the Forum very soon.  The new Forum will run on responsive software and so you’ll be able to keep in touch via your smart devices.

Some members also tell us that they experience some difficulties when accessing our website from Nationwide PCs.  This is because of the Society’s current browser settings and we understand these will be updated during the course of the year.

Free Legal Advice Helpline – help at the end of the phone

This NGSU service is provided by Slater & Gordon Lawyers (S&G).  S&G are experts you can trust – they’ve been working with unions and their members for over 80 years.

So whatever your query, simply call the free phone number – 0800 916 9063 – and talk to one of their legal advisors in complete confidence.  As a member, both you and your immediate family have 24 hour* access to free legal advice throughout the year.  The service will answer your simple legal queries straight away or provide initial assistance for more complex issues, giving you instant peace of mind.

If your query relates to a specific issue about your employment at Nationwide please contact NGSU directly as our Individual Cases Officers will have knowledge of the Society’s policies and procedures and will be able to provide advice relevant to Nationwide.  Where necessary, the Union will take appropriate legal advice to support members with issues at work.

Notes:

Please note free phone numbers are not always free from mobile phone networks.  Please check with your own network first or use a landline to ensure you do not pay for the call.

*The helpline is available 24hrs but callers between 8pm and 9am (and on bank holidays) will be asked to provide details of their query and arrangements will be made for a legal advisor to call back.

February Draw Winners

First Prize  :  £11,683

087204  :  Newton Mills – Pensioner Member

Second Prize  :  £5,000

114183  :  Marion Olphert of St Neots Branch

Third Prize  :  £2,000

123549  :  Nancy Daniel of New Business (NAC)

Fourth Prizes  :  £500

102604  :  Tammy Baldwin of Legal & Finance (Swindon)

097552  :  Barbara Taylor of Coventry Branch

116729  :  Roslyn Knight of Support Services (Swindon)

NGSU members can increase their number of chances in our monthly draw at any time during their Union membership.  You can have a maximum of 10 chances – each chance costs just £1.  Every month 75% of the draw pool is returned to members as prizes and 25% is retained to help meet the running costs of the Union.  The draw is restricted to NGSU members only.

To enter the draw or increase your chances please email us at ngsu@ngsu.org.uk, call us on 01295 710767 or download an application form from our website.

If you pay your Union subscriptions by salary deduction we can collect your draw subscriptions that way too.