Before the adoption

This guidance was last updated on

9 September 2011

Action required by employee

When you are notified that you have been matched for adoption you should meet with your line manager to discuss and complete the Adoption Leave Plan, which will provide the relevant information and notice to your department in respect your intention to take adoption leave. You should advise your manager whether you intend to return to work after the adoption. If you do intend to return to work you should notify your manager of the date on which you wish to begin your adoption leave.

If you do not intend to return to work after the adoption your manager can outline your entitlement to statutory adoption pay, etc.

Discuss with your manager whether you would like to undertake any Keeping in Touch days.

Agree with your manager arrangements for staying in touch, if you wish to do so, during your adoption leave.

Action required by the department

As soon as your employee informs you that s/he has been matched for adoption you should meet with them to discuss and complete the Adoption Leave Plan.

Within 28 days of completing the Adoption Leave Plan you should confirm the employee's return to work date in writing (if the employee intends to return to work).

University adoption scheme

All employees employed by the University who meet the relevant qualifying provisions, who have expressed the intention to return to work following the adoption of their child/ren, and regardless of their staff group, grade or hours worked, will be eligible for the provisions of the University adoption leave scheme.

Adoption leave and pay allows one member of an adoptive couple, the one who will have the primary care responsibility for the child, to take paid time off work when their new child starts to live with them. Paternity, or birth and adoption support leave and pay may be available for the other member of the couple, or an adopter's partner.

Where a couple are adopting jointly they can choose which of them will take adoption leave and pay, and the other (regardless of gender) may take paternity or birth and adoption support leave and pay. If an individual is adopting s/he may take adoption leave and pay and his/her partner may be eligible for paternity or birth and adoption support leave and pay. Separate guidance on paternity or birth and adoption support leave and pay is providedl.

Overseas adoptions

This guidance only covers leave and pay entitlements and responsibilities which apply when an adopter is matched with a child and the child is placed for adoption within Great Britain. Similar provisions apply where a child is adopted from overseas, although the detailed operation of the scheme differs slightly for practical reasons. The department should contact its Sector Personnel Officer if an employee is adopting a child from overseas and further guidance will be provided.

Qualification for the university adoption leave scheme

At the qualifying week (the week in which the employee is told by the adoption agency that he/she has been matched with a child) the employee must:

hold a current contract of employment with the University, and
have at least 26 weeks' continuous service with the University; and
have been matched with a child to be placed with him/her by a UK adoption agency; and
have notified the agency that they agree that the child should be placed with him/her and agree the date of placement; and
provide his/her department with the correct notification of his/her intentions to take adoption leave; and
intend to return to work following the adoption

If s/he meets all these requirements, and has a contract of employment which will continue throughout the entire period of the proposed adoption leave the employee will be eligible to receive the benefits of the University adoption leave scheme as follows:

26 weeks' full pay (inclusive of any statutory adoption pay which is due); followed by

13 weeks' statutory adoption pay(if an employee does not meet all the statutory qualification rules for statutory adoption pay, s/he will only receive pay for the first 26 weeks of the University adoption leave scheme); followed by

13 weeks' unpaid leave

Total = 52 weeks' leave

If the contract will expire during the proposed adoption leave period then payments under the contractual scheme will end at the contract end date. SAP payments (see below) may continue.

Payments under the University Adoption Scheme consist of two elements, contractual pay and Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP).

SAP is a weekly government benefit that is paid by the employer to employees who meet the qualifying criteria.

Contractual pay is the pay that the University pays over and above the statutory minimum.

To qualify for SAP, the employee must have been continuously employed with the same employer for at least 26 weeks ending in the week that the employee is notified that s/he has been matched with a child (the qualifying week) and have average weekly earnings above the National Insurance lower earnings limit. There are other qualifying conditions relating to SAP that depend on individual circumstances, but payroll can confirm whether an employee is eligible for SAP at the appropriate time.

SAP is paid over the first 39 weeks of maternity leave at the rate of:

90% of average weekly earnings (this figure is worked out at the qualifying week) for each of the first six weeks of adoption leave, followed by

33 weeks of flat rate SAP (£128.73 a week from 6 April 2011 or 90% of average weekly earnings if that is less than £128.73 a week. The flat rate is subject to review every April.

As the University pays full pay for the first 26 weeks' adoption leave, any SAP which is due to the employee is automatically incorporated into the first 26 weeks' full pay. It is not paid in addition to full pay. For the next 13 weeks, the University pays SAP only.

For the final 13 weeks of leave under the University Adoption Scheme no payments are made.

In a case where the employee is adopting more than one child at the same time, the employee is entitled to the same benefits as though s/he were adopting one child.

Notice

The employee must:

provide his/her department with the correct notification of his/her intentions to take adoption leave no more than seven days after s/he is notified that s/he has been matched with a child.
notify his/her department of when s/he wants to receive statutory adoption pay (SAP) at least 28 days before the date s/he wants it to begin, or as soon as is reasonably practicable (notice can be given earlier alongside notice of the start of adoption leave).The employee can tell his/her department earlier than this if they want to.

In most cases employees who are eligible for SAP will notify their department of the date they want their pay to begin at the same time as giving notice of leave. In most cases employees will want their SAP to start on the same date as their leave. In any event, an employee must give the department at least 28 days' notice of the date on which they want their SAP to start, or, if this is not reasonably practicable, as soon as is reasonably practicable.

An employee can change their mind about when they want their leave to start as long as they give their employer at least 28 days' notice before the original date or the new date they want leave to start, whichever is later.

If the date of placement changes before the employee begins adoption leave, the employee should discuss the situation with the employer as soon as possible, and give the appropriate notice to change the start date.

The department should fill in an Adoption Leave Plan with the employee to ensure that notification has been given for adoption leave. Evidence will be needed to demonstrate eligibility for University adoption leave and this includes:

The name and address of the adoption agency; and
The date the employee was notified of having been matched with the child; and
The date on which the child is expected to be placed for adoption or, if it has already happened, the actual date of placement;
A declaration that the employee is the primary carer for the child and has chosen to receive SAP rather than Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP).

If the employee's contract ends before the SAP payments have begun, the SAP payments should start 14 days before the date of placement. If the contract ends during those 14 days, pay begins the day following the last day of work.

Start of adoption leave/pay

An adopter can choose to begin their leave and pay on:

The date on which the child is placed with them for adoption; or

A pre-determined date no earlier than 14 days before the expected date of placement, and no later than the expected date of placement.

Contact during adoption leave

The department may make contact with the employee (and vice versa) while s/he is on adoption leave, as long as the amount and type of contact is not unreasonable (e.g. to discuss plans for returning to work or to keep him/her informed of important developments in the workplace).

Work during the adoption leave period - keeping in touch days

An employee may, by agreement with her department, do up to ten days' work - known as Keeping in Touch (KIT) days - under his/her contract of employment during the adoption leave period. Such days are different to the reasonable contact that departments and employees may have with each other, as during KIT days employees can actually carry out work for the department, for which they will be paid.

Any work carried out during the adoption pay period (39 weeks) or adoption leave period (52 weeks) will count as a whole KIT day, up to the ten day maximum. In other words, if an employee comes in for a one hour training session and does no other work that day, s/he will have used one of his/her KIT days.

The type of work that the employee undertakes on KIT days is a matter for agreement between the two parties. They may be used for any activity which would ordinarily be classed as work under the employee's contract , but would be particularly useful in enabling him/her to attend a conference, undertake a training activity or attend for a team meeting for example.

This work during adoption leave may only take place by agreement between both the department and the employee. A department may not require an employee to work during her maternity leave if she does not want to, nor does a woman have the right to work KIT days if her department does not agree to them.

The KIT days can be undertaken at any stage during the adoption leave period.

When the Adoption Leave Plan is completed, the employee and department should agree how contact should be maintained and work offered under the KIT day provision.

Returning to work

It is assumed that an employee's return to work date will be at the end of his/her full 52 weeks of adoption leave unless s/he has told her department that s/he wishes to come back at any other time.

The employee can return to work earlier than the full 52 weeks of adoption leave, or can change the date of his/her return to work, as long as s/he gives eight weeks' notice to her department.

If an employee decides not to return to work at the end of his/her maternity leave, or returns to work for less than three months, the University reserves the right to reclaim all or part of the payments made under the University scheme, minus the statutory adoption pay element.

If an employee does not qualify for the University adoption scheme

If an employee does not meet the qualifying criteria for the University Adoption Scheme, s/he still has certain rights, which are set out below.

All employees who are adopting a child are entitled to 52 weeks' leave from work when they adopt, or as much of that period as they wish to take, no matter how long they have worked for the University. The purpose of the adoption leave is to allow the parent to bond with, and care for, his/her new child. However, where the employee does not qualify for the University adoption leave scheme or SAP, this leave will be unpaid.

This kind of adoption leave i.e. the leave that all adopting employees, regardless of their length of service with the University, and whether or not they qualify for the University Adoption Scheme, are entitled to is made up of:

26 weeks' Ordinary Adoption Leave (OAL) followed immediately by
26 weeks' Additional Adoption Leave (AAL)

It is up to the individual employee to decide how much adoption leave s/he wishes to take, up to the 52 weeks' maximum.

An employee can choose to start his/her adoption leave on the date on which the child is placed with him/her for adoption or a pre-determined date no earlier than 14 days before the expected date of placement, and no later than the expected date of placement. The employee must give the correct notice to his/her department.

An employee who does not qualify for SAP or contractual pay still needs to provide a matching certificate and fill in an Adoption Leave Plan in order to take adoption leave.

Notification before going on adoption leave

Although the law only requires the employee to tell his/her department that s/he has been matched with a child for adoption and intends to take adoption leave within seven days of the date when the match has taken place, it would be helpful if the employee tells his/her department about his/her intentions to adopt a child as soon as possible so that the department knows that the employee may require time off work to deal with issues relating to the adoption process. It will also help the department to plan ahead and make arrangements for covering the period while the employee is on leave.

To claim adoption leave and pay under the University Adoption Scheme, within seven days of the date that s/he is matched with a child, an employee should notify his/her department of

the date that the employee was notified of having been matched with the child
the date on which the child is expected to be placed for adoption or, if this has already happened, the actual date of the placement
the name and address of the adoption agency
confirmation that the employee is the primary carer for the child and has chosen to receive SAP rather than Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP)

An Adoption Leave Plan is provided for employees and departments to use to collect this information and other details relating to the proposed adoption leave period. If the Adoption Leave Plan is completed fully by the employee and the department this will ensure that the notification requirements are met.

When leave can begin

An adopter can choose to begin his/her leave and pay on:

The date on which the child is placed with them for adoption; or

A pre-determined date no earlier than 14 days before the expected date of placement, and no later than the expected date of placement.

If the department and employee fill in the Adoption Leave Plan then this will satisfy the notification requirements in this respect.

Changing the start of adoption leave

Once an employee has notified the department of the date s/he wishes to start his/her adoption leave, s/he can change this date as long as s/he notifies her department of the new start date by whichever is the earlier of either 28 days before the date she originally intended to start her leave or 28 days before the new date she wants to start her leave.

If it is not reasonably practicable for her to give this much notice (for example if the date of the placement of the child changes unexpectedly) then the employee should give his/her department as much notice as possible. The notification does not have to be in writing unless the department requests it.

Confirmation by the department of the end date of leave

Once an employee has provided the necessary notice of the intended start date of his/her leave, the department should in turn notify the employee of the date on which the leave will end. This will normally be 52 weeks (one year) from the start of adoption leave. There is a Adoption Leave Plan and letter which can be used for this purpose.

The department should confirm with the employee the end date of the adoption leave within 28 days of the notification unless the employee has since changed the date the leave will start. In that case, the department must notify the employee of the end date within 28 days of the start of the leave.

End of employment before leave

Annual leave

For the employees of children adopted on or after the 5 October 2008 the rules relating to the accrual of annual leave have changed. Contractual annual leave (including bank holidays and fixed closure days) will accrue throughout the full 52 weeks of adoption leave, and an employee has the right to all of the terms and conditions of employment which s/he would have been entitled to if s/he had been at work throughout the period of absence.

For employees currently on adoption leave or adopting before 5 October 2008, contractual annual leave (including fixed closure days and bank holidays) will accrue during the first 26 weeks of his/her adoption leave but not during the second 26 weeks.

Departments may wish to ask their employee to take any accrued annual leave prior to their adoption leave. You may also ask that s/he takes at least 28 days' annual leave (the annual statutory holiday entitlement) before s/he goes on adoption leave if s/he will not return to work before the end of the current leave year. In the event that an adoption period crosses over two annual leave years, you may ask an employee returning to work to use up the balance of his/her annual leave from the leave year that has ended at the end of his/her adoption leave period.

However, departments retain the right to make annual leave arrangements with their employees to fit in with operational requirements. Employees may wish to consider retaining some of their annual leave to allow them to take time off as required to look after their children should they be ill, or need some additional support whilst settling into nursery or with new childcarers. It should be clarified early on that whilst a small amount of paid leave is available to staff for dealing with domestic emergencies this is not intended to cover foreseeable domestic problems such as those outlined above, and in most cases it would be anticipated that annual leave should be used to cover such circumstances. It may be necessary to clarify that the University sick scheme only covers the sickness of the employee and not the sickness suffered by any of their dependents.

Other benefits

During the whole period of adoption leave the employee is entitled to receive all his/her contractual benefits with the exception of remuneration. This includes all non-cash benefits such as childcare vouchers.