People Experience and Culture Paternity Policy and Procedure
1. Purpose
This policy outlines your statutory and occupational entitlements to paternity 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
- Mother / Birthing Parent - The person who has, or is due to give birth to the child (this could be a person of any gender identity).
- Qualifying Week - The 15th week before the expected week of childbirth.
- 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 Qualifying Week / Matching Week.
- OPP – Occupational paternity pay.
- SPP – Statutory paternity pay.
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
The university does not require any specific length of service criteria to be fulfilled prior to commencing paternity leave (albeit appropriate notice must be given).
Paternity leave can be taken by the following:
a) the biological father of the baby
b) the partner of the mother / birthing parent
c) the partner of the primary adopter (i.e. if one parent elects to take adoption leave, the partner may elect to take paternity leave. This also applies in ‘fostering to adopt’ situations. A separate policy is available in respect of adoption leave)
d) an employee who has/is applying for a parental order in relation to a child born under a surrogacy arrangement (the other partner may be eligible for adoption leave).
You must also have, or expect to have, responsibility for the upbringing of the child and be making the request to help care for the child or to support the child’s mother / birthing parent or primary adopter.
5.2 Notification of paternity leave
In birth cases:
- If you wish to take paternity leave you must provide an Entitlement to Paternity Leave form at least 15 weeks before the baby’s due date.
- You must also submit an Arrangements for Paternity Leave form at least 28 days before each intended period of leave.
In adoption cases:
- If you wish to take paternity leave you must provide an Entitlement to Paternity Leave form no later than seven days after the date on which you were notified of having been matched with the child.
- You must also submit an Arrangement for Paternity Leave form at least 28 days before each intended period of leave, or where this is not practicable e.g. due to the short notice given of being matched with a child, the form should be submitted as soon as reasonably practicable.
If you subsequently wish to change the timing of your paternity leave, you should give 28 days' notice of the new dates.
5.3 Paternity Leave
The statutory position is an entitlement to two weeks’ paternity leave. However, the university goes above this and offers eligible employees up to three weeks’ paternity leave.
Paternity leave can be taken either as one continuous block of leave or as separate blocks of leave provided it is taken in whole weeks. By way of an example, you may take two weeks' leave immediately after the birth, and then another week at a future point.
Leave must be taken within the 52 weeks after birth or in the case of adoption, within 52 weeks of the placement of the child. Paternity leave cannot start before the baby is born or is placed with the family for adoption.
Please note that if you take a period of shared parental leave (see separate policy), you cannot take any remaining paternity leave afterwards i.e. paternity leave must be taken before any shared parental leave.
5.4 Paternity Pay
Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP)
SPP is payable for up to two weeks during paternity leave. To qualify for SPP 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 Qualifying / Matching Week.
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 are still employed by the university on the date the child is born or placed with the adopter.
Occupational Paternity Pay (OPP)
To qualify for OPP you must have completed one year's continuous service by the Qualifying Week / Matching Week.
For the avoidance of doubt, you will still be eligible for OPP (subject to meeting the criteria stated above) even if you do not meet the criteria for SPP.
OPP is payable as follows:
- Up to three weeks at 100% of your normal weekly pay, inclusive of any SPP payments made in those weeks.
See the separate guidance on pay information on the intranet.
5.5 Other pay-related information
Paternity pay can start from any day of the week in accordance with the date you start your paternity leave.
Paternity 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.
6. Antenatal care / Adoption Appointments
Details about time off to accompany a pregnant woman to appointments related to antenatal care, or time off to attend adoption appointments, can be found in the Special Leave Policy.
7. Baby Loss
If your child is stillborn after the 24th week of pregnancy or born alive at any stage of pregnancy but does not survive (neonatal loss) you will still be entitled to paternity leave and pay. You may also access Parental Bereavement Leave which is up to ten days paid leave and can be taken up to 56 weeks from the death of the child – further details can be found in the Special Leave Policy.
You may find the following sources of support helpful:
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Sands - Stillbirth and neonatal death charity
- Tommy's - Stillbirth information and support
8. Terms and conditions during paternity leave
During paternity leave, all the terms and conditions of your employment except normal pay will continue. Your pay will be replaced with statutory and / or occupational paternity pay if you are eligible for it for the period it is payable. However, other benefits such as holiday entitlement and pension contributions will continue as set out below.
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 during paid paternity leave. The employee contributions will be based on the actual paternity payments not the salary you would normally receive. During any unpaid paternity 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 paternity leave.
If you are taking a period of paternity leave that will finish very close to the end of the leave year or continue into the next leave year, any holiday entitlement for the year that cannot reasonably be taken before starting your paternity leave can be carried over to the next leave year. Where possible, you should try to limit carry-over to two weeks’ leave or less. Carry-over of more than two weeks is at your line manager's discretion.
You should discuss your holiday plans with your line manager in good time before starting your paternity leave. All holiday dates are subject to approval by your line manager.
9. Returning from paternity leave
If you return to work after a period of isolated paternity leave you have the right to return to the job in which you were employed before the absence.
You have the right to return to the same job if you return to work after a period of paternity leave that was taken consecutively with one or more other periods of statutory leave and the statutory leave (excluding any period of ordinary parental leave) taken in relation to the child does not exceed 26 weeks in total. The statutory leave must not include a period of ordinary parental leave lasting more than four weeks.
If you return to work after a period of paternity leave that was the last of two or more consecutive periods of statutory leave that included a period of ordinary parental leave of more than four weeks, you are entitled to the job you held immediately before the period of leave began or, if this is not reasonably practicable, to another job that is both suitable and appropriate for you to do. The same right applies if you return to work after paternity leave that has been taken consecutively with another period of statutory leave, and the total period of leave (excluding any period of ordinary parental leave) exceeds 26 weeks.
If you wish to request flexible working (e.g., reduced hours) you should refer to the Flexible Working policy found on the intranet.
10. Related Documentation / Information
In adoption, fostering for adoption and surrogacy cases, you may wish to consider adoption leave instead (see the Policy page on the intranet). Only one parent can take adoption leave, so you should discuss this with your partner. You cannot take both paternity leave and adoption leave.
You cannot take paternity leave if you have already taken shared parental leave in respect of the same child. You may be eligible to opt into the Shared Parental Leave scheme after paternity leave and share up to 50 weeks leave and 37 weeks’ pay with an eligible 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.