Adoption and Pay

wonderwoman29

Sorry if this is in the wrong place!
My husband and I are in the process of being approved as adoptive parents. He works full time and I'm at home, a carer for our disabled daughter. The adoption agency has told us that because I won't be taking any maternity/adoption leave, being home anyway, that my husband would be entitled to take this instead. We've read his workplace policy on adoption leave and to be honest, it wasn't very straight forward and certainly not easy to understand. Could anyone advise what we would be entitled to? Or is it a case of it depends on what my husband's company offers? They have implied that because I'm home that he isn't entitled to anything other than the standard 2 weeks paternity. Is this right? Or could he take more time? 
Many thanks in advance for any advice!

CookieMonster

It'll be in his company Terms & Conditions of employment.
His HR department should be able to clear up anything that you're having trouble understanding..
Many places only offer it to staff who have been with them over 12 months.

Savvy_Sue

wonderwoman29 said:

Or is it a case of it depends on what my husband's company offers? They have implied that because I'm home that he isn't entitled to anything other than the standard 2 weeks paternity. Is this right? Or could he take more time? 

I don't think that's right, for the simple reason that SAP (Statutory Adoption Pay) should mirror whatever they offer for MP which should mirror whatever the offer for PP (Maternity / Paternity Pay). 

My understanding is that if you and your DH can share any period of statutory parental leave, ie between you, you can take up to the maximum. Since you don't need any, he can take all of it. 

But take a look at the Gov.UK site and suggest he shows that to his employer, noting that if they would offer more generous maternity pay, then they need to offer more generous paternity / adoption pay as well ... 

wonderwoman29

He's been there well over 12 months and so far the HR team haven't been much help. We asked if he could get any special leave for our 3 day training course that we have to take, they told us to find out how much leave we'll need throughout the process (impossible to tell at this point according to our social worker) and they'll come to a 'reasonable arrangement'. Don't understand why they couldn't just tell us straight...
He has a meeting tomorrow with his manager and an HR person, just wanted to know what we were entitled to before the meeting with regards to him taking the leave I would take if I were classed as an employee. 

74jax

The employment board on here is AMAZING so I'd highly recommend posting on there and someone should be able to advise. 

Savvy_Sue

It wouldn't surprise me if this was the first time the HR team had come across this situation, but that doesn't really excuse their ignorance or inability to find out ... If you read the link I posted, it's possible that the course would be covered under: If you get adoption leave, you can also get paid time off work to attend 5 adoption appointments after you’ve been matched with a child - although not if you haven't yet been matched. 

I could be completely wrong about all this, but I'd definitely want them to show 'chapter and verse' which says that if one parent is not working, the other is NOT entitled to SAP ... 

wonderwoman29

Savvy_Sue said:

It wouldn't surprise me if this was the first time the HR team had come across this situation, but that doesn't really excuse their ignorance or inability to find out ... If you read the link I posted, it's possible that the course would be covered under: If you get adoption leave, you can also get paid time off work to attend 5 adoption appointments after you’ve been matched with a child - although not if you haven't yet been matched. 

I could be completely wrong about all this, but I'd definitely want them to show 'chapter and verse' which says that if one parent is not working, the other is NOT entitled to SAP ... 

Hi Sue, thanks for all the info. Just been on the link and it's all a bit confusing to me sorry! This is taken from the gov website:

If both parents want to share the SPL and ShPP

You and your partner must:

• have been employed continuously by the same employer for at least 26 weeks by the end of the week you were matched with the child
• stay with the same employer while you take SPL
• be ‘employees’ (not ‘workers’)
• each earn on average at least £120 a week
  
  So this says that not only do we both have to be considered employee's but we have to work for the same employer?! That doesn't seem right, does it?

wonderwoman29

74jax said:

The employment board on here is AMAZING so I'd highly recommend posting on there and someone should be able to advise. 

Thanks, I've just popped it on there, hopefully someone can advise soon  

sheramber

I think it means that each of you must have been with the same employer for at least 26 weeks but not both with the same one employer.
Wife works for employer A for 26 weeks and husband works for employer B for 26 weeks,

HampshireH

wonderwoman29 said:

Savvy_Sue said:

It wouldn't surprise me if this was the first time the HR team had come across this situation, but that doesn't really excuse their ignorance or inability to find out ... If you read the link I posted, it's possible that the course would be covered under: If you get adoption leave, you can also get paid time off work to attend 5 adoption appointments after you’ve been matched with a child - although not if you haven't yet been matched. 

I could be completely wrong about all this, but I'd definitely want them to show 'chapter and verse' which says that if one parent is not working, the other is NOT entitled to SAP ... 

Hi Sue, thanks for all the info. Just been on the link and it's all a bit confusing to me sorry! This is taken from the gov website:

If both parents want to share the SPL and ShPP

You and your partner must:

• have been employed continuously by the same employer for at least 26 weeks by the end of the week you were matched with the child
• stay with the same employer while you take SPL
• be ‘employees’ (not ‘workers’)
• each earn on average at least £120 a week
  
  So this says that not only do we both have to be considered employee's but we have to work for the same employer?! That doesn't seem right, does it?

What you have quoted is if you want to share the leave. In your case your not sharing as you aren't taking any.

Look at this CAB link and read the adoption pay section

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/rights-at-work/parental-rights/parental-rights-at-work/#h-adoption-leave-and-pay

pinkshoes

Your husband is legally entitled to take a full 12 months adoption leave. 

6 weeks at 90% then the remainder of 9 months at £151.20 a week (or 90% of salary if that is lower than this) then the final 3 months unpaid.

If you are not working then there is no leave to be shared. If you were working you couldn't both take the leave. You could, however share it between you.

Me and my DH shared the leave (baby, not adoption) so I took 7.5 months and he took 1.5 months. We couldn't afford to do the unpaid bit.

I got more than the above because sometimes a company will pay more than the statutory amount.