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Adoption Leave and Pay

The Family Leave Policies encompasses a wide range of policies, including the employee benefits, obligations and arrangements for Adoption Leave and Pay.  This page details the time off and pay entitlements an employee has on and around the time of adopting a child.  

Summary Adoption Leave and Pay Process Flowchart

Adoption process simplified and shown as a flowchart. All details outlined in the text.

 

Benefits and Obligations

There are certain employee benefits and employer and employee obligations which apply across all Family Leave Policies. 

Please see the Family Leave Policies - Benefits and Obligations page for more information. 


Definitions

Please see the Family Leave Policies - Definitions page for a full list of definitions applicable to all included policies.


Contents

An employee can choose to take Adoption Leave and Pay as outlined in this section, or, if they and their partner are eligible, may choose to reduce the Adoption leave (and Pay) and take Shared Parental Leave (SPL) instead. Please refer to the Shared Parental Leave page for more information. 

Employees who will be the main adopter are entitled to: 

  • paid time off at their normal rate of pay for up to five adoption appointments.
  • not be subjected to a detriment, disadvantage, unfair treatment or dismissal because of the adoption.

Employees who are the partner of a main adopter will be entitled to:

  • unpaid time off to attend up to two adoption appointments. 

Qualifying for Adoption Leave

Employees who adopt, or one partner of a couple where the couple adopt jointly, may enjoy adoption rights and, subject to certain qualifying conditions and regardless of their hours are entitled to a period of up to 52 weeks Adoption Leave. This 52 week period of Adoption Leave comprises of two parts namely Ordinary Adoption Leave and Additional Adoption Leave.

To qualify for Adoption Leave an employee must meet the following criteria:

  • be newly matched with a child for adoption by an approved UK adoption agency. Adoption Leave and Pay are not applicable where a child is not newly matched for adoption, for example when a step parent is adopting a partner’s child.

Different types of Adoption Leave

Ordinary Adoption Leave (OAL)

Ordinary Adoption Leave describes the first period of leave from when a child is newly matched with an employee for adoption.  It lasts for 26 weeks. Any employee who chooses to return to work within the period of Ordinary Adoption Leave will return to the same job with the same, or no less favourable, terms of service. 

 

Additional Adoption Leave (AAL)

Additional Adoption Leave describes the period of 26 weeks immediately following the end of ordinary adoption leave.  Employees returning to work following any Additional Adoption Leave will return to the same job, or a similar job, which carries the same, or no less favourable, terms of service.

Subject to certain qualifying conditions, ESC employees may be eligible for Contractual Adoption Pay (CAP) or Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) or other benefits.

Contractual Adoption Pay (CAP)

Contractual Adoption Pay is payable for a total of 26 weeks in the normal payment cycle. The first 26 weeks of CAP is paid at 100% of the employee’s average weekly earnings comprising Statutory Adoption Pay topped up with Contractual Adoption Pay. A further 13 weeks is paid at the lower of the statutory level or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings. 

 

Qualifying for Contractual Adoption Pay

To qualify for Contractual Adoption Pay employees must meet the following qualifying criteria:

  • be newly matched with a child for adoption by an approved UK adoption agency
  • be in paid service with ESC at the time the Adoption Leave begins and have been so for at least 52 weeks; leading into the week in which the child’s adopter is notified of the match with the child or adoption – known as the ‘matching week’
  • Have complied with the correct notification procedure including providing evidence of the adoption match and at least 28 days before the start of the Adoption Pay Period, or as soon as is reasonably practicable.  Please refer to Section 5: Process.
  • be the primary carer of the child.  The partner of the primary carer of the couple who are adopting jointly will be entitled to two weeks paid Paternity Leave.

 

Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP)

Statutory Adoption Pay is payable for a total of 39 weeks in the normal payment cycle. The first 6 weeks of SAP is paid at 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings and the remaining 33 weeks paid at the lower of the statutory level or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings. Statutory Adoption Pay is payable regardless of whether or not the employee intends to return to work.     

 

Qualifying for Statutory Adoption Pay

To qualify for Statutory Adoption Pay employees must meet the following qualifying criteria:

  • be newly matched with a child for adoption by an approved UK adoption agency
  • have been continuously employed by ESC for 26 weeks leading into the week in which the child’s adopter is notified of the match with the child or adoption – known as the ‘matching week’
  • Have average weekly earnings at or above the lower earnings limit for Class One National Insurance Contributions which applied at the end of the matching week. Employees should refer to the Corporate Services Team for more information. 
  • Have complied with the correct notification procedure including providing evidence of the adoption match and at least 28 days before the start of the adoption pay period, or as soon as is reasonably practicable.  Please refer to Section 5: Process.

Employees who do not meet all of the above criteria may not be eligible to receive SAP.  Employees should refer to the Corporate Services Team for more information. Employees in low-income families may be able to seek financial support through the benefits system. 

Notifying ESC

Employees are expected to notify ESC in writing no later than seven days after the date on which they have been notified of having been matched with a child for the purposes of adoption unless this is not reasonably practical. Details of this notification should include:

  • when the child is expected to be placed with them through provision of a Matching Certificate from their Adoption Agency as evidence for their entitlement to Statutory Adoption Leave and Pay.
  • The date they want to start their Adoption Leave 

ESC will respond to the employee in writing within 28 days setting out:

  • the employee’s rights in relation to Adoption Leave, Shared Parental Leave and Pay
  • the expected return to work date calculated as 52 weeks from the start date
  • the employee’s duty to notify ESC of any changes to their plans

 

Notifying ESC of pre-adoption appointments

Employees are requested to provide reasonable notice of pre-adoption appointments to their line manager prior to taking the time off.  Shared Parental Leave

If the employee is aware that they want to reduce their entitlement to Adoption Leave (and Pay) in order to take Shared Parental Leave, then they may wish to discuss this at the same time as notification of the adoption match.  However, they are also free to do this later during their Adoption Leave.  See the Shared Parental Leave page for more information.

 

Starting Adoption Leave 

Once the correct process has been employed to notify ESC, leave will normally commence in one of the following 2 ways: 

  • from the date of the child’s placement (whether this is earlier or later than the expected date), or 
  • from a fixed date which can be up to 14 days before the expected date of placement
  • (for overseas adoptions) the day the child arrives in the UK or within 28 days of the child arriving in the UK 

Leave can start on any day of the week.  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 adopter will be able to continue adoption leave for up to eight weeks after the end of the placement. 

 

Employer / employee contact during Adoption Leave

When the employee is on Adoption Leave, ESC may make reasonable contact with them. The frequency and nature of the contact will depend on a number of factors, such as the nature of the work, any agreement which may have been reached before Adoption Leave began as to contact and whether either party needs to communicate important information to the other. At the very least, there will be an exchange of correspondence about how much accrued holiday entitlement the employee has, and how this will be taken around the time of return to work. 

Some examples of other forms of reasonable contact:


Keeping in Touch days:

ESC will arrange where mutually agreed up to 20 'Keeping In Touch' (KIT) days during the period of leave.  During any actual working time as a result of the KIT days, the employee will be paid at their normal rate of pay.  This will then be offset against their CAP / SAP entitlement for that week. Employees should note that full days or part days are calculated as a part of the 20 ‘keeping in touch’ days. 

 

An employee, with the agreement of ESC, may use KIT days to effect a gradual return to work by the employee towards the end of a long period of Adoption Leave or to trial a possible flexible working pattern.

 

Changes in the workplace:

ESC will keep the employee updated about any significant changes in the workplace while they are on Adoption Leave including any opportunities for promotion or job vacancies.  Where operational changes involve redundancies, ESC will ensure that, where the employee is affected, they are fully consulted.  Please refer to the Leaving Employment Policy.

 

Returning to Work

Discussion may take place to ensure that plans are in place for the employee’s return to work in relation to:

  • Any request to amend working practices or to facilitate a phased return into the workplace
  • Introducing new colleagues
  • Introducing new working practices or policies
  • the availability of a workstation, computer etc
  • any refresher training required
  • communicating with any affected employees (including any temporary staff hired to cover the absence)

If an employee is sick during Adoption Leave they will not normally be entitled to receive sick pay. 

However, if an employee is sick during Additional Adoption Leave and wishes the normal sick absence rules to apply, and, where appropriate, receive sick pay, notification should be given to the line manager that they wish their Additional Adoption Leave period to cease.  In these circumstances the normal 28 day return-to-work notice period will be waived.  The employee should note that by opting to receive sick pay in these circumstances, their Additional Adoption Leave period will cease and when the period of sick absence has ended they must return to work. 

If an employee can’t return to work following adoption leave due to illness, the normal Sick Absence rules will apply and they must notify their line manager in the normal way.

If an employee becomes pregnant during their Adoption Leave, or if another child is placed with the employee for adoption (under an entirely new adoption process – e.g. not including adoption of a sibling under the same process) then they have the right to further Ordinary and Additional Maternity or Adoption Leave as appropriate. This can be reduced in order to take Shared Parental Leave, provided all the qualifying criteria are met, in the same way as any other period of Maternity / Adoption Leave.

As the annual performance review system is a supportive process in ESC and not used to mark or assess performance, any employee taking adoption leave (other than for a very short period of time – 3 months or so) will undertake an appraisal with their line manager shortly after returning from leave, in order to understand any changes in work priorities which have occurred during their time away from work and also to understand any support and / or training which may be needed to help settle back into the role.

If an employee decides not to return to work following Adoption Leave, they must give ESC notice of termination of employment in the normal way. 

ESC will set out the date of intended return to work in the letter of response to the employee following notification of the date indicating the start of Adoption Leave along with any pay implications. This date will normally be the date at which the employee’s Additional Adoption Leave is expected to finish.  There will also be further communication with the employee toward the end of the Adoption Leave period to clarify how much holiday entitlement has accrued and how this can be taken around the time of their return. No other notification from the employee will normally be required unless the employee wishes to return to work earlier than the end of their Additional Adoption Leave or apply to extend their leave via a request to take an additional period of leave (for example Parental Leave). 

Employees wishing to return to work before the end of their Additional Adoption Leave must provide ESC with eight weeks’ notice of the requested return date. Failure of the employee to provide the notice could result in ESC postponing the leave return date to such a date as does provide the full eight weeks’ notice. 

The job to which an employee returns following Adoption Leave can be influenced by whether the employee is returning from Ordinary Adoption Leave or Additional Adoption Leave as summarised below   

  • After Ordinary Adoption Leave employee returns to same job as if they hadn’t been away
  • After Additional Adoption Leave employee returns to same job as if they hadn’t been away, unless this is not reasonably practicable.  If it is not reasonably practicable for the employee to return to the same job they will be offered a similar job on terms and conditions of service no less favourable than the original job

Employees may be able to take an additional period of leave (e.g. Parental Leave) immediately following their period of

 

  • Ordinary Adoption Leave
  • Additional Adoption Leave

 

Please refer to the Parental Leave page for more information.

ESC will give careful consideration to any requests that the employee might make in respect of Flexible Working in line with business requirements.  Employees should refer to the Flexible Working Policy for more information.

The employee may also wish to consider making a request for a phased return to work, following Adoption Leave, by making use of accrued holiday entitlement.  Such requests will be given careful consideration.

A full policy Impact Assessment and details of policy version control can be found within the Family Leave Policies  page.