Welcoming a new child into your family can be an exciting and life-changing experience, but it can also bring about a lot of changes and adjustments.
For adoptive parents in the UK, one of the most crucial things to consider is the leave and pay entitlements that you are eligible for. Most people are familiar with maternity and paternity leave, but adoption leave and pay can be a bit more complicated to understand.
Regardless of whether you’re an employee looking to better understand your rights, or an employer looking to support your employees during this transition, we hope that this information will help you navigate the process with ease. Let’s get started!
What is adoption leave?
Adoption leave is a type of leave granted to employees who have just adopted a child. It allows adoptive parents to take time off from work to care for and bond with their new child, as well as make necessary arrangements for the new addition to their family.
In the UK, adoption leave is granted to eligible employees under the Employment Act 2002, which outlines the eligibility criteria, duration of leave, and amount of pay that adoptive parents can receive during their leave.
How does statutory adoption leave work in the UK?
In the UK, employees can take time off to adopt a child, or have a child through a surrogacy arrangement. They might be eligible for statutory adoption pay and leave.
In order to be eligible for statutory adoption leave, what your employee needs to do depends on whether or not they are adopting locally or overseas.
If your employee is adopting locally, make sure your employee:
- Gives you the correct notice; and
- Is classed as an employee.
Employers must be aware that your employees do not need to give you proof of adoption or surrogacy unless you ask for it.
If your employee is adopting a child from overseas, make sure your employee:
- Signs the SC6 form if they’re adopting with a partner. This confirms that they’re not taking paternity leave or pay.
Do employers need to contribute to statutory adoption pay?
Claiming adoption pay and leave changes slightly, depending on whether your employee is adopting overseas or having a child through a surrogacy arrangement.
You should also be aware of special rules for some employee situations that impact how much they get paid.
The bottom line is, employers need to contribute to statutory adoption pay. For financial help with statutory pay, you can usually reclaim payments (usually 92%) or apply for an advance if you cannot afford the payments.
To calculate an employee’s adoption leave and pay, you can use the maternity and paternity calculator.
How much do you have to pay?
Government guidance says that employers have to pay the following:
- 90% of their gross average weekly earnings for the first 6 weeks; and
- £156.66 a week or 90% of their gross average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for the next 33 weeks.
Tax and national insurance need to be deducted.
You can opt to offer more than the statutory amounts via a company scheme for adoption leave pay. But you cannot pay less than the statutory requirement.
Can you refuse to pay?
You can only refuse statutory adoption pay if the employee does not qualify. Employees will not qualify for either adoption leave or pay if they:
- Become a special guardian or kinship carer.
- Adopt a stepchild or family member.
- Adopt privately, for example without permission from a UK authority or adoption agency.
To refuse it, you have to give the employee form SAP1 within 7 days of your decision. They must get this form within 28 days of their request for Statutory Adoption Pay or the date they were matched with the child (whichever is earlier).
How much adoption leave are employees in the UK entitled to?
Employees can take up to 52 weeks of statutory adoption leave.
The first 26 weeks are known as ‘Ordinary Adoption Leave’, while the last 26 weeks are known as ‘Additional Adoption Leave’.
What are the eligibility requirements for adoption leave in the UK?
To be eligible for statutory adoption leave, your staff must tell you within 7 days of being matched with a child:
- How much leave they want;
- Their leave start date;
- The ‘date of placement’ – the date the child is placed with them.
You can ask for proof of the above in writing and proof of the adoption. In addition, you have 28 days to confirm their leave start and end dates.
What records do you have to keep?
There are several records you must keep for HMRC, including:
- Proof of adoption;
- The date Statutory Adoption Pay started;
- The payments of Statutory Adoption Pay you’ve made – including dates;
- The payments you’ve reclaimed; and
- Any weeks you did not pay and why.
How long should you keep them for?
You must keep records for 3 years from the end of the tax year they relate to (for example by using form SAP2 or keeping your own records).
How can employers prepare for employees going on paid adoption leave?
1. Understand the legal requirements
When an employee plans to go on adoption leave, it’s crucial to understand what your obligations as an employer are. You should be familiar with the laws related to paid adoption leave, and ensure that the company is compliant with all relevant laws and regulations.
Ensure that your HR team is aware of the employee’s leave dates to process salary payments accordingly. They should also prepare the necessary documents involved for submission to the relevant government bodies, if applicable.
You should also review and update your policies and procedures related to adoption leave to ensure that they align with legal requirements, and are clear and consistent. They should outline the eligibility criteria, the length of the leave, the amount of pay the employee is entitled to, and any other relevant details.
2. Outline the employee’s duties and responsibilities
Since the employee will be absent from work for a period of time, it’s crucial to outline the tasks they are responsible for, so nothing falls through the cracks when they leave.
Collaborate with the employee to create a detailed handover document or checklist with all their daily tasks and frequent contacts. This helps to provide transparency over their workload and facilitates easy reference when needed. Should you need to contact someone in their absence, this handover document will serve as a source of truth.
3. Create a transition plan
Whenever there are changes within the team, it’s best to create a transition plan to make the entire process as seamless as possible. You need to decide whether you want to hire a new employee to take over the workload temporarily, or redistribute the workload to other team members for the duration of the adoption leave.
This will then determine whether you need to put out a job ad, or create briefing documents and training sessions for the rest of the team to ensure that they are up to speed with everything.
4. Communicate with the team
Communication is everything. It’s best to give the affected team ample notice so they know what to expect, and have enough time to adjust to the new workload, or the new employee.
Be clear about the dates the adoptive mother or father will be absent for, and what changes that entails for the rest of the team. It’s vital to assuage any concerns and answer any pressing questions the team might have, to prevent any frustration or discontentment.
5. Establish a return-to-work plan
Coming back to work after a long period of leave is never easy, so a return-to-work plan with clear, defined steps is incredibly important and beneficial for both the employer and employee.
Include any new updates within the company that they need to be aware of, the resources available for them should they require any help, their employee rights to childcare needs, and the relevant colleagues they should reach out to with regards to reclaiming tasks relevant to their role.
3 ways to support your employees through the adoption process
Check-in with them regularly
Adopting a child is a deeply personal and complex transition for everyone. It may change the new parent’s priorities with regards to career and family. Some employees may also require or request for a more flexible work schedule.
It’s key to check in regularly, to show them that the company is supportive of them and concerned for their wellbeing. Similarly, it also provides employees with an avenue to have open and honest conversations about the new changes in their life, and how well they are coping with it. 1:1 sessions are the perfect way to do so.
Provide flexible working arrangements
When your employee has kickstarted the adoption process, offer flexibility in work hours and schedules to allow them to attend appointments, meetings, and court hearings related to the adoption process.
And if their adoption application is successful, it goes without saying that taking on childcare is a whole new ball game. New parents in particular will be struggling to settle into a new rhythm of doing things, trying to incorporate childcare responsibilities into their daily routine.
Give them the option of working flexibly as much as possible, so they don’t get burnt out or overwhelmed with the stress of having to balance both work and childcare. As the pandemic has shown us — remote working is extremely helpful in empowering parents with the ability to balance parenting obligations whilst developing their careers at the same time.
Create a supportive community and culture within the workplace
Providing parental benefits and having family-friendly policies sets the tone for a more supportive work environment.
Acknowledge and celebrate important milestones in the adoption process, such as when the adoption is finalised, to show support and recognition for your employee’s journey. You can also provide resources such as employee assistance programs (EAPs) or access to counselling services to help employees navigate any challenges they are facing.
Being a working parent is a full-time juggling act. It can be incredibly stressful, difficult and lonely at times. Do you have a working parents support group in the company? If you don’t have one already, it’s about time you started one. It’s always helpful for working parents to share tips, advice, and support each other, so they feel that they have a solid community they can always fall back on.
By creating a caring and supportive culture in the workplace, you allow your employees to enjoy a better work-life balance, feel more comfortable at work, and in turn lead to greater productivity, engagement and work satisfaction.
Employment Hero can help you manage employee leave more effectively
With so many types of employee leave available — sick leave, maternity leave, parental leave, adoption leave, sabbatical leave, gardening leave and more, it can get overwhelming to keep track of all your employees’ leave entitlements and dates.
But managing leave doesn’t have to be complicated or confusing. All you need is a great software that does the work for you while you reap the benefits of structure, efficiency and productivity. Employment Hero does all that and more for you and your business, with the click of a button.
Say goodbye to mindless admin work — you’ll never be short-staffed again or lose leave requests again!
With our platform, you’ll get notified whenever someone from your team requests leave, view requests for leave, see every employee’s leave balance, see all your team’s leave requests in a calendar view, approve or decline requests with notifications automatically sent to your employee, and have a digital source for all employee leave documentation.
It’s leave management made easy.
