IF there was ever a good time to be an expectant parent, this must be it. Parents whose new baby is due on or after 5 April this year will have much more flexibility over who looks after their child during its first year of life.

The introduction of shared parental leave will give eligible parents the choice as to who takes time off work. In all cases, the mother must take the first two weeks following the birth as compulsory maternity leave.

After that period, the remaining 50 weeks leave and 37 weeks pay can be shared out between the mother and her partner. This means that the two parents could request alternate periods of leave (for example, a pattern of working for a month then having a month off), or even to take 25 weeks off together. However, an employer is not obliged to agree to any pattern other than a continuous period of leave.

Both parents have to meet certain eligibility criteria – the most important of which is 26 weeks’ employment with their current employer.

They also have to go through a fairly complicated notice process, which includes providing a declaration from their partner and details of their partner’s employer.

A recent BIS survey indicated that four out of five potential parents would consider taking the new leave, although other information indicates that only about a third of parents will do so.

Certainly, the economics of the parents’ personal situations will be highly relevant, with the shared leave likely to be most popular for couples where the mother is the higher earner and is keen to get back to work to further her career and maximise the family’s income.

It is clear that the issue of childcare is expected to be an important feature of the forthcoming General Election, with several parties setting their stall out to woo voting parents.

Labour has pledged to increase free childcare for working parents of three and four year olds to 25 hours per week, and to double paternity leave to four weeks with an accompanying increase in statutory paternity pay. The Liberal Democrats are planning to increase paternity leave by a further four weeks, which would give a total of six weeks statutory leave. These rights would of course be in addition to the new shared parental leave entitlement.

So, it’s likely that we will see fathers taking more time off to help with changing those nappies in the first few weeks after birth.

And those high-earning women who can’t wait to get back to work could be passing the baby over to dad.