Adoption leave and pay
When a staff member adopts a child or, has received “official notification of adoption” when adopting from overseas, they are entitled to take a period of adoption leave.
Leave entitlement
Staff are entitled to take up to 26 weeks ordinary adoption leave and up to 26 weeks additional adoption leave regardless of the number of hours worked or length of service.
Pay entitlement
Staff who take adoption leave are entitled to Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) provided that:
- they have 26 weeks’ service calculated at the week in which notification of matching was given by the adoption agency
- their average weekly earnings in the 8 weeks ending with the week that the match was notified, are not less than the lower earnings limits for NI contributions
To receive Occupational Adoption Pay (OAP) staff must have completed at least one year’s continuous service prior to the start of the week in which they were notified of the match.
Starting adoption leave
- If the child is adopted within the UK, adoption leave can start on the day the child is placed for adoption or up to 14 days earlier
- If a child is being adopted from overseas, adoption leave can begin the day the child enters Great Britain or on a chosen date no later than 28 days after.
The legal parents of a child (under a surrogacy arrangement) are entitled to take statutory adoption leave and are eligible and can apply for a parental order.
Local authority foster parents who are also prospective adopters ("foster to adopt") are entitled to take ordinary adoption leave.
Eligible prospective adopters may take leave and pay from up to 2 weeks before the child is placed with the family. The leave and pay must be taken within 52 weeks of this placement.
For more information please see the resources below.