As long as you carry on paying in to your now:pensions savings, your workplace should also carry on paying in. They should work out their payments using the amount of your pensionable earnings before you started your paid parental leave.
But your own payments in to your now:pensions savings will be based on your actual earnings during your paid parental leave. For example, if you’re getting statutory maternity or paternity pay, this is what your payments will be based on.
If you decide to take unpaid leave after your paid parental leave, you don’t have to carry on paying in to your pension savings. Your workplace can also stop paying in, unless your employment contract says your workplace must pay in to your pension savings while you’re on unpaid leave.
When you return to work, you can pay extra money in to your pension savings to make up for the time you were on unpaid leave, if you want to.
Visit MoneyHelper’s maternity and paternity leave page to learn more.