Factsheet 5 Adoption Pay and Leave
Factsheet 5 Adoption Pay and Leave This factsheet is only a summary of the complex law governing adoption pay and leave. It covers the law in relation to employees who have had a child placed with them for adoption by an agency, or adopted from overseas. Detailed guidance can be found on www.gov.uk Adoption pay and leave covers the rights of employees to have leave from work when a child is placed for adoption with them, and the pay they are entitled to during this period. Adoption pay and leave is governed by a combination of legislation and contract law. Legislation sets down statutory minimum entitlements to which all employees are entitled. These are minimum entitlements and many employers go beyond the minimum. It is important for prospective adopters to check their employment contracts to see what their contractual entitlements are this might include period of full and half pay while on adoption leave. Anyone being offered additional contractual arrangements should make sure they have read and fully understood the terms and conditions of such payments as they often require the employer to return to work for a minimum period at the end of the statutory leave period. The statutory minimum entitlements apply equally to children placed by a voluntary or local authority adoption agency, as they do to children who are adopted from overseas. However, in relation to inter-country adoptions, for practical reasons there are some differences to the eligibility, notice and evidential requirements to take leave and when leave and pay can begin. See www.gov.uk Statutory Adoption Leave (Overseas Adoptions). Statutory Adoption Leave To qualify you must: be an employee be newly-matched with a child by an adoption agency Have worked continuously for your current employer for at least 26 weeks before the beginning of the week when you are matched with a child. If you are adopting a child you are fostering you must be matched for adoption by a recognised agency to be eligible for Statutory Adoption Leave or Pay. You must give your employer documentary proof to show that you have the right to Statutory Adoption Leave and Pay. This is usually a matching certificate or a letter from your adoption agency. The adoption agency must be recognised in the UK. Factsheet 5 © Adoption UK May 2013 1 Taking your Statutory Adoption Leave If you qualify you have the right to 52 weeks of Statutory Adoption Leave. This is made up of 26 weeks of ordinary adoption leave followed by 26 weeks of additional adoption leave. You can start your leave either: from the date the child starts living with you up to 14 days before the date you expect the child to start living with you and your leave can start on any day of the week. You need to tell your employer that you want to take statutory adoption leave within seven days of being told that you have been matched with a child. If this is not possible, you must tell them as soon as you can. At the same time you must tell your employer: when you expect the child to be placed with you When you want your Statutory Adoption Leave to start. You can change this date as long as you give your employer at least 28 days notice. You can return to work earlier than the end of the 52 weeks as long as you give your employer eight weeks’ notice. As you are required to provide this notice you may chose to advise your employer that you intend to take your full entitlement of 52 weeks and see how you and the children adapt to being a family. By advising your employer that you intend to take full leave you remove any pressure if the children find settling more challenging that had been first thought; this may especially apply to older children or sibling groups. You are entitled to the benefits of the normal terms and conditions of your employment during adoption leave. Reasonable contact and keeping in touch days Legislation makes it clear that ‘reasonable contact’ between you and your employer will not bring the period of statutory leave to an end. This means that your employer can contact you to discuss your return to work or to keep you informed of important events and changes at work. During the period of your adoption leave you can, if you wish, carry out up to 10 ‘keeping in touch’ (KIT) days. KIT days are not compulsory and cannot be taken within the first two weeks of a placement. A KIT day counts as a day in full, even if you only attend for part of the day. This means that your employer cannot request that you attend 20 half days. All KIT days should be arranged by agreement so that you, as an employee, have a say in when these days might occur e.g. Factsheet 5 © Adoption UK May 2013 2 you do not have to agree to attend specific meetings or training. You do not have to take any KIT days if you do not wish to do so. You will be paid statutory adoption pay for the week in which the KIT day falls. You may be paid in addition to your statutory adoption pay; this is a matter between you and your employer. Statutory Adoption Pay This begins at the same time as your adoption leave and runs for 39 weeks, unless you finish your Statutory Adoption Leave earlier. The current weekly rate from 9th April 2 0 1 3 is £136.78 or 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings, whichever is less. From 3 April 2011 Statutory Adoption Leave runs for 52 weeks and can be split between adopting couples (see details below). To qualify you must have been: matched with a child for adoption by an adoption agency employed by your present employer without a break for at least 26 weeks up to and including the week the adoption agency told you that you had been matched with a child earning an average of at least £109 a week (before tax) (Figures as at April2013). How and when to claim You must give your employer documentary evidence from the adoption agency. This will usually be a ‘matching certificate’ You must also tell your employer when you intend to take leave within seven days of being told by the adoption agency that you’ve been matched with a child You can choose when to start getting your Statutory Adoption Pay. It can start from the date of the child’s placement or up to 14 days before the expected date of the placement If you have more than one job, you may be able to get Statutory Adoption Pay from each employer. If you have two contracts of employment and meet the qualifying criteria under each contract you may be paid SAP for both jobs. Who should take Statutory Adoption Pay When only one of a couple is employed this person can decide to take either Statutory Adoption Pay and leave or Statutory Paternity Pay and leave. If your employer offers you additional contractual arrangements, such as full or half pay, you may find that you could take, for example, six weeks Statutory Adoption Leave and Pay at full pay under these additional contractual arrangements and return to work after this period. This means, in practice, that you could enjoy quality family time together at the Factsheet 5 © Adoption UK May 2013 3 beginning of a placement. If no additional contractual pay is available this option may not be so enticing. You will not qualify for Statutory Adoption Leave or Pay if you: arrange a private adoption become a special guardian adopt a stepchild have a child through surrogacy are self employed – you may want to investigate with the adoption agency placing your child if they would consider making payments equal to SAP from their Adoption Support Services budget. Statutory Paternity Leave see www.gov.uk What is statutory paternity leave? Following the placement of an adopted child/ren, eligible adopters can take leave to care for the new family member/s and to support their partner. This can be either person in a couple, regardless of gender. Who will be entitled to take paternity leave? You must have a minimum of 26 weeks continuous employment with the same employer by the end of the week in which the child is matched. If you have two employers and fulfil the criteria for both you are entitled to paternity leave from both employers You will be the child’s adopter You must live together (including same sex relationships). How much leave? You can take either one or two weeks’ leave. You can’t take odd days off and if you have 2 weeks they must be taken together Leave must be taken and completed within 56 days of the placement Only one period of leave is due irrespective of the number of children placed at any one time. A week is based on your usual working pattern. So, if you work Mondays and Tuesdays only, a week would be two days or, if you work Monday to Friday, a week would be five days. Factsheet 5 © Adoption UK May 2013 4 How much notice is required? You may wish to inform your employer when you have been approved as adopters but there is no legal requirement to do this. Legally you must tell your employer: Within 7 days of being notified by the adoption agency that you have been matched with a child The date the child will be placed Request for one or two weeks leave Date you are requesting to start your leave. You should try to give this information to your employer at least 28 days before you want your paternity leave to start. This is not always possible and if your employer believes you do not have good reason for not giving the required notice they can refuse to pay you statutory paternity pay. If the date of placement changes you must inform your employer as soon as is “practicable”. Statutory Paternity Pay Who is eligible? You must have worked for the same employer for 26 weeks by the week in which you were matched for adoption You must earn at least the lower earnings limit to qualify for Paternity Pay (£109 per week before tax - figures correct as at April 2013) Paternity Pay is £136.78 per week (from 9 April 2013) or 90% of your earnings if this is less. For Tax Credit purposes the first £100 is ignored as income You cannot receive Paternity Pay for any week that you are in receipt of statutory sick pay Self-employed people have no eligibility to Statutory Paternity Pay but may be eligible for equal payments of Adoption Financial Support through the adoption agency placing the child. From 3 April 2011 additional paternity leave and pay may be available if: You and your partner receive notification that you are matched with a child for adoption on or after 3 April 2011 The partner, with whom you are adopting, is entitled to statutory maternity leave, maternity pay or allowance or statutory adoption leave or pay Additional paternity leave is for a maximum of 26 weeks. Leave can start anytime between 20 weeks and 52 weeks after the placement date if your partner has returned to work. It must stop within one year of the date the child started living with you and you must give your employer six weeks’ notice if you want to change your additional leave start or end date. Factsheet 5 © Adoption UK May 2013 5 To qualify for additional paternity leave and pay employers must receive notice in writing at least eight weeks before the start of the leave. This notice must include: The date that you were notified of being matched w i t h a c h i l d for adoption The placement date The start date of the additional paternity leave and pay Your relationship to your partner and their entitlement to SAP. You must also state that the additional paternity leave is taken to care for the child. For Additional Paternity leave to be taken the person with whom you are adopting must have qualified for statutory adoption leave and pay and have returned to work. Periods of annual leave, sick leave or parental leave which directly follow adoption leave will not count as a return to work. Useful Contacts The above information taken from this government website: www.gov.uk and Catherine Holliday, Specialist Adoption Welfare Rights Officer. There is an option to view these pages in Welsh. The Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service www.acas.org.uk offers free, confidential and impartial advice on employment rights issues. Tel: 0845 747 4747 Citizens Advice Bureau – find your nearest CAB at www.citizensadvice.org.uk Further advice available on www.adviceguide.org.uk Working Families Free Legal Helpline www.workingfamilies.org.uk Tel: 0800 013 0313 Factsheet 5 © Adoption UK May 2013 6 Adoption UK is a charity and depends on membership, grants and donations to operate our support services. If you have found our information and support helpful and would like to make a donation please visit www.adoptionuk.org or telephone 01295 752240 Factsheet 5 © Adoption UK May 2013 7
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