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Adoption Leave

April 2007

Paid adoption leave and pay is available for eligible parents when a child is newly placed for adoption.  To qualify for adoption leave an employee must have completed 26 weeks continuous service with their employer ending with the week in which they are notified of having been matched with a child.

Length of adoption leave and amount of pay (Statutory Adoption Pay – SAP) will be the same as for maternity leave and pay where the child's placement is expected on or after 1^st April 2007.  Where an individual is adopting, their partner may also be eligible for paternity leave and pay.

The new legislation also allows for 'Keeping in Touch Days'.  The employee can do up to 10 days work under her contract of employment, as long as both she and her employer have agreed for this to happen, have agreed on what work is to be done and how much she will be paid for it.  'Work' in this context is not limited to the employee's usual job and can include training or any activity undertaken for the purposes of keeping in touch with the workplace.  This will not affect her maternity leave or pay.

If you aren't planning to take your full maternity leave you must give 8 weeks notice of your return date.  You can change your mind later on as long as you give eight weeks' notice of any change to that date. 

Only one period of leave will be available irrespective of whether more than one child is placed for adoption as part of the same arrangement.

If the child's placement ends during the adoption leave period, the adoptor will be able to continue adoption leave for up to 8 weeks after the end of the placement.

The earliest that adoption leave and SAP can begin is 14 days before the expected date of placement of the child and the latest it can start is on the date of placement itself.  Pay and leave can start on any pre-determined date between these two dates.

The employee must notify their employer of when they want to take their adoption leave no more than seven days after they are notified that they have been matched with a child and the employee must (if reasonably poracticable) give the employer 28 days notice.