People Experience and Culture Adoption Policy and Procedure
1. Purpose
This policy outlines your statutory and occupational entitlements to adoption leave and pay, and the procedures to follow in order to assist you.
This policy does not form part of your employment contract, and we may update it at any time.
2. Scope
This policy applies to all eligible employees on a University of Derby or Derbyshire Student Residences Ltd (DSRL) contract of employment. It does not apply to agency workers, consultants, self-employed contractors, or volunteers.
See also ‘Eligibility’.
3. Definitions
- Adoption Leave - Up to 52 weeks’ leave divided into 26 weeks’ Ordinary Adoption Leave (OAL) and, immediately after, 26 weeks’ Additional Adoption Leave (AAL)
- OAP - Occupational adoption pay
- SAP - Statutory adoption pay
- Matching Week - The week in which you were notified of being matched with the child for adoption
- Relevant Period - Your average weekly earnings during the eight weeks ending with the Matching Week. Or in the case of surrogacy, your average weekly earnings during the eight weeks ending with the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth.
- Proof of the adoption - Usually a matching certificate. The proof will show:
- Your name and address
- The name and address of the agency
- The date you were matched with the child
- The expected date of placement
4. Policy Statement
The University is committed to providing competitive family-friendly packages in support of talent attraction, retention, staff wellbeing and career progression. It recognises the value of achieving a gender-diverse workforce and creating an environment that supports work-life balance for working parents. In support of this, the provisions of this policy exceed the statutory requirements and are highly competitive both inside and outside of the sector.
This policy and procedure sets out the entitlements and benefits for new parents.
5. Procedure
5.1 Eligibility
To qualify for adoption leave you must be newly matched with a child for adoption by an approved agency. Adoption leave (and pay) is not available in circumstances where a child is not newly matched for adoption, for example when a step-parent is adopting a partner’s child.
If a child is being jointly adopted, either partner will be able to choose to take adoption leave (and the other will be entitled to paternity leave).
If the child is being adopted by only one of a couple, it is only the person adopting that will be entitled to adoption leave (the other may be entitled to paternity leave).
Statutory adoption leave and other rights are also available to employees who are local authority foster parents in a "foster to adopt" situation, or employees who expect to become the legal parents of a child born under a surrogacy arrangement.
In surrogacy arrangements, you will be entitled to adoption leave and other rights if you:
- adopt the child; or
- intend to apply for a parental order within six months of the child's birth and expect the order to be granted.
5.2 Notification of adoption leave
You are required to inform your line manager of your intention to take adoption leave within seven days of being notified by your adoption agency that you have been matched with a child for adoption (unless this is not reasonably practicable). This includes the situation where a local authority places a child with you in a "foster to adopt" arrangement. You will need to tell your line manager:
- When the child is expected to be placed with you, and
- When you want your adoption leave to start.
You will be able to change your mind about the date on which you want your leave to start providing you tell your line manager at least 28 days in advance (unless this is not reasonably practicable).
Please complete the ‘Arrangements for Adoption Leave’ form found on the People Experience and Culture (PEC) team’s intranet pages and submit it to your line manager as soon as possible, together with the proof of the adoption (see definitions).
In the case of a surrogacy arrangement, you need to give your line manager notice in writing by no later than the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth, or as soon as possible afterwards, of:
- your intention to take adoption leave; and
- the expected week of childbirth.
We may ask you to provide a statutory declaration confirming that you intend to apply for a parental order within six months of the child's birth and expect the order to be granted.
We will write to you within 28 days of receipt of your notice confirming the date on which you are expected to return to work if you take your full 52-week entitlement to adoption leave.
You must give your line manager further notice, as soon as reasonably practicable, of the child's date of birth.
5.3 Adoption Leave
You are entitled to take 26 weeks’ ordinary adoption leave (OAL) and 26 weeks’ additional adoption leave (AAL), making a total of 52 weeks. This is regardless of the number of hours you work or your length of service. Your AAL will commence on the day after your OAL ends.
You can choose to start your leave:
- From the date of the child’s placement (whether this is earlier or later than expected), or
- From a fixed date which can be up to 14 days before the expected date of placement.
Leave can start on any day of the week.
Placement is when the child arrives to live permanently with you. If the child’s placement ends during the adoption leave period, you will be able to continue adoption leave for up to eight weeks after the end of the placement. This is the case whether the termination of the placement is due to the child’s death or a disruption to the placement.
In addition, in cases where an expected placement does not happen, but you have already started your leave or pay period (which can begin up to 14 days in advance of the expected date of placement), adoption leave and pay will be available for eight weeks following notification that the child will not be placed with you.
If you are having a child through a surrogacy arrangement, your adoption leave will start on the day on which the baby is born or the day after if you are at work on that day. You cannot change your adoption leave start date.
5.4 Adoption Pay
Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP)
SAP is payable for up to 39 weeks during adoption leave. To qualify for SAP the following must apply:
a) You must have been employed by the University of Derby without a break in service for at least 26 weeks (irrespective of the number of hours worked) ending with the Matching Week (or in a surrogacy arrangement, at the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth). Previous continuous service with another HE or FE institution does not count towards eligibility for statutory pay.
b) Your average weekly earnings in the eight weeks up to and including Relevant Period must have been at least equal to the lower earnings limit (the level at which you start paying National Insurance Contributions).
c) You have given the correct notice.
d) You have given proof of the adoption to the HR Operations Team.
e) You have stopped work and your adoption leave has begun.
See the separate pay information on the intranet.
SAP can start from any day of the week in accordance with the date you start your adoption leave.
SAP is payable to you irrespective of whether you intend to return to work after adoption leave.
SAP payments will cease if:
- You are taken into legal custody;
- You work for another employer who did not employ you in the Matching Week;
- If you return to work (excluding a keeping in touch day (see section 8);
- You die (it cannot be paid to your family).
You are still eligible for SAP if you leave employment for any reason after the start of the Matching Week (for example, if you resign or are made redundant).
Any outstanding SAP will usually be paid as a lump sum at the time employment ceases.
Occupational Adoption Pay (OAP)
To qualify for OAP you must have completed one year's continuous service by the Matching Week (or in a surrogacy arrangement, at the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth). Previous continuous service with another HE or FE institution can count towards eligibility for occupational pay.
Payment of OAP is conditional on you confirming in writing, before starting adoption leave, that you intend to return to work for at least six months after adoption leave. If you do not return to work for this minimum period any OAP (but not SAP) must be repaid. If there is occupational pay to be repaid it will be taken from your final salary where there are sufficient funds to do so. If this is not possible, the university will agree a repayment plan with you. This might include, for example, that where notice of termination of employment is longer than one month, the occupational pay to be repaid may be deducted over the whole notice period so that the deductions can be split over two or more months.
The university may decide to waive the repayment requirement where there are clear compassionate grounds (e.g. death of the child), or where your employment ends for non-voluntary reasons that were not reasonably foreseeable before your adoption leave commenced e.g. compulsory redundancy. The university will not normally waive the repayment requirement where the dismissal is for misconduct.
For the avoidance of doubt, you will still be eligible for OAP (subject to meeting the criteria stated above) even if you do not meet the criteria for SAP.
OAP is payable as follows:
18 weeks at 100% of your normal weekly pay, inclusive of any SAP payments made in those weeks.
Where you do not have normal working hours (i.e. hourly paid employees) a week’s pay is your average remuneration calculated over the period of 8 weeks up to and including the Matching Week.
5.5 Other pay-related information
Adoption pay will be paid into your bank account on the same day that you would normally receive your salary payment subject to the usual tax and national insurance contributions.
If you have the required continuous service, but have not paid sufficient National Insurance contributions to quality for SAP, you will still receive OAP.
6. Adoption Appointments
Details about time off to attend adoption appointments can be found in the Special Leave Policy.
7. Contact during adoption leave
Shortly before your adoption leave starts, your manager will discuss with you the arrangements for covering your work and the opportunities for you to remain in contact, should you wish to do so, during your leave.
In any event, we reserve the right to maintain reasonable contact with you from time to time during your leave, for example to discuss your plans for returning to work, to discuss any training needs before returning or to update you on key developments at work during your absence.
8. Keeping-in-touch (KIT) days
You can agree to work for up to ten days during your adoption leave without that work bringing your period of adoption leave to an end and without loss of a week’s SAP. These are known as keeping-in-touch days. KIT days can be used for any work-related activity, including attending training, conferences and team meetings.
A KIT day should be mutually agreed between you and your line manager. Your manager is not obliged to offer you any days of work during your adoption leave, nor can you insist on working.
Any work done on a day during the adoption leave period will count as a whole KIT day, even if it is for only an hour or so but is payable as per the contractual rate of pay and in accordance with the number of hours worked on that day. If a KIT day occurs within a period of your paid adoption leave, the payment for the KIT day will be offset against any adoption payments (SAP and OAP). Payment for KIT days will be pensionable.
Once all ten KIT days have been used, if you are still being paid SAP and continue to work more than the allowed ten KIT days, you will lose a week’s SAP for any week in which you work for us.
9. Terms and conditions during adoption leave
During adoption leave, all the terms and conditions of your employment except normal pay will continue. Your pay will be replaced with statutory and / or occupational adoption pay if you are eligible for it for the period it is payable. However, other benefits such as holiday entitlement, pension contributions and salary sacrifice schemes will continue as set out below.
If you are entitled to any other benefits such as health insurance, etc. these will continue during adoption leave, however please refer to the relevant scheme’s terms and conditions for information about how payments will be dealt with while you are on adoption leave. You will be entitled to keep any work equipment such as laptops and mobile phones while on adoption leave.
If you are contributing to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) or Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) both you and the university will continue to pay contributions on any paid adoption leave. The employee contributions will be based on the actual adoption payments, not the salary you would normally receive. During any unpaid adoption leave pension contributions are not payable by either the employee or the employer. Upon return to work, you have the following options:
- LGPS – to buy back some or all of the gap in pensionable service.
- TPS – to increase your pension.
Your annual leave (including statutory and concessionary days) continues to accrue during your adoption leave. You should discuss arrangements for taking this annual leave with your line manager, however it is good practice to take annual leave that has accrued before the start of your adoption leave period before your adoption leave starts. You should attempt to take all outstanding annual leave within the relevant leave year as normal; however, where this is not possible, the outstanding leave can be carried over to the next leave year. On or before your return to work, you should discuss with your manager a plan for taking this carried over leave so that it is taken in the next leave year.
Cycle to Work Scheme (salary sacrifice) – If you are in a period of adoption leave where you are receiving nil pay or statutory pay only, we will extend the hire period by the number of months you are not being paid or are receiving SAP. This is so that the salary sacrifice arrangement can continue when you return to normal pay.
Childcare Vouchers (salary sacrifice) – Childcare vouchers cannot be provided during a period of SAP or nil pay. You will need to opt out of the scheme during any such period and rejoin when you return to normal pay. You must rejoin the scheme within 11 months of your last voucher entry and have not joined the Tax-Free Childcare scheme in the meantime. See also the separate pay guidance on the intranet which provides more information about how childcare vouchers might impact your SAP calculations.
10. Returning from adoption leave
You have the right to return to the same job following ordinary adoption leave. If you return to work after a period of additional adoption leave, you are entitled to return either to the same job or, if this is not reasonably practicable, to another suitable job that is on terms and conditions not less favourable.
You may return to work at any time during adoption leave, provided that you give the appropriate notification. Alternatively, you may take your full period of adoption leave entitlement and return to work at the end of this period. If you wish to return before the full period of adoption leave has elapsed, you must give at least eight weeks’ notice in writing of the date on which you intend to return. If you do not give enough notice, we may postpone your return date until eight weeks after you gave notice, or to the original expected return date if sooner.
If you are unable to return to work due to sickness or injury, this will be treated as sickness absence and our Attendance Management policy and procedure will apply.
If you wish to request flexible working (e.g., reduced hours) you should refer to the Flexible Working policy found on the intranet.
11. Deciding not to return
If you decide not to return to work after adoption leave you will need to give notice of your resignation as soon as possible and in accordance with the terms of your contract.
If the notice period expires after your adoption leave has ended we may require you to return to work for the remainder of the notice period.
If you do not return to work for a period of six months you will normally be required to repay any OAP that has been paid to you. Any time spent on Shared Parental Leave or unpaid leave will not count towards this period. See also OAP section.
12. Related Documentation
You may be eligible to opt into the Shared Parental Leave (SPL) scheme and share up to 50 weeks’ leave and 37 weeks’ pay with an eligible partner which gives you more flexibility to share the leave and pay available in the first year after the child is placed with your family. Your partner should check with their employer if they are eligible.
As the primary adopter, you cannot start a period of SPL until at least two weeks of adoption leave has been taken by you. You would need to give at least eight weeks' written notice to end your adoption leave and opt into SPL. You can give this notice before or after the child is placed with you. You would then be able to share any remaining leave with your partner.
A separate Shared Parental Leave policy and procedure is available on the Policy page of the intranet.
See also: Family-Friendly Hub on the intranet