On 1 April 2026, Singapore’s Shared Parental Leave framework moves into Phase 2. The entitlement increases from 6 weeks to 10 weeks for eligible parents. If your leave policy, HR system, and managers are not ready before that date, you have a compliance problem from day one.
What Shared Parental Leave Phase 2 actually means
The Shared Parental Leave scheme was introduced to allow parents to share a pool of government-paid leave, giving families flexibility in deciding who takes time off and when. Phase 1 — which took effect in April 2025 — introduced 6 weeks of SPL. Phase 2 increases that to 10 weeks.
For eligible employees, the entitlement simply increases. There is no application process for the change, no opt-in, and no grace period for employers. From 1 April, 10 weeks is the entitlement.
The headcount planning reality
For large organisations, four additional weeks of parental leave is manageable. For the startup and SME environment that most EPS clients operate in, it is a material consideration.
If you have a team of fifteen and your operations manager takes 10 weeks of parental leave instead of 6, that is an additional month of coverage planning. If you have not identified who covers what during that absence — or if that conversation was deferred because “it is only six weeks” — you need to have it now.
The businesses that handle parental leave well are not the ones with the most sophisticated policies. They are the ones who plan early enough to make deliberate decisions about coverage rather than reactive ones.
Three things to do before 1 April
Update your leave policy. The document — whether it lives in an employee handbook, a HRIS, or a shared folder — should reflect 10 weeks. If it says 6, update it before 1 April.
Configure your HR system. If you use an HR or payroll system that tracks leave entitlements, the SPL field needs to be updated to 10 weeks. An employee who applies for SPL after 1 April and is only approved for 6 weeks because the system has the wrong figure is a compliance issue and a trust issue simultaneously.
Brief your managers. Employees who are expecting a child or planning to take SPL will ask. Managers should be able to answer accurately and without hesitation. A quick briefing — even just an email — ensures no one is caught off guard.
The broader pattern worth noting
The Phase 2 increase was announced well in advance. This is not a case of legislation arriving without warning. And yet, based on how Phase 1 landed across the businesses I work with, a meaningful number of companies will still be updating their policies in the final week of March.
The gap between “we know about this” and “we have actually implemented it” is where compliance problems live. The SPL change is a small but clean example of a change that is entirely preventable as a compliance gap — and yet regularly becomes one.
If you are reading this before 1 April, you still have time. Use it.
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Singapore HR Risk Watch monitors Singapore’s employment law and regulatory landscape and publishes alerts within 48 hours of significant changes. This post is informational and does not constitute legal advice.
