Maternity / Paternity Leave

Maternity leave

You are entitled to a period of 52 weeks’ maternity leave, regardless of length of service. This is split into 26 weeks ordinary maternity leave and 26 weeks additional maternity leave.

Maternity pay

You will be entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) of 39 weeks in total if you have completed 26 weeks’ continuous service at the 15th week prior to your expected week of childbirth and you are still employed in that week. SMP entitles you to 90% of your average weekly earnings for the first 6 weeks (which are calculated at average earnings over the 8 weeks prior to the 15th week before your expected week of childbirth). The remaining 33 weeks will be paid at the basic government rate.

If you do not qualify for SMP you may qualify for Maternity Allowance and you should enquire about this at your local Job Centre.

Paternity leave

You will be entitled to statutory paternity leave if you have been continuously employed for a period of not less than 26 weeks ending with the week immediately prior to the 15th week before your child’s expected week of birth. If the child’s actual birth date is earlier than expected, the original expected birth date is nevertheless used for the purposes of calculating continuity of service when considering your eligibility.

You may take a period of one or two weeks’ consecutive leave (at your choice), however you may not take odd days or take two separate periods of one week duration.

Leave must be taken within 8 weeks after the birth of your child.

Paternity Pay

You will be entitled to Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) if you have completed 26 weeks’ continuous service, 15 weeks prior to the expected date of childbirth. SPP entitles you to take up to two weeks’ paid leave.

You are entitled to either 90% of your average weekly earnings (which are calculated at average earnings over the 8 weeks prior to the expected date of childbirth) or the government standard rate, whichever is the lower.

Adoption Leave

Qualifying contractorss are entitled to up to 26 weeks’ ordinary adoption leave followed immediately by up to 26 weeks’ additional adoption leave regardless of length of service. The right is available to individuals who adopt or one member of a couple adopting jointly, either you or your spouse/partner may choose to take adoption leave.

Adoption Pay

You will be entitled to statutory adoption pay (SAP) if you have completed 26 weeks’ continuous service with us ending with the week you are notified of having been matched for adoption (Qualifying Week). SAP is payable for up to 39 weeks and will be paid at 90% of your average weekly earnings (calculated over a period of 8 weeks prior to the Qualifying Week) or the government standard rate, whichever is lower.

Shared Parental Leave/Pay

Shared parental leave (SPL) allows eligible parents to take up to 50 weeks between them during the first year following the birth or adoption of a child, in order to care for that child. Employees taking SPL may also be eligible to take between them up to 37 weeks’ shared parental pay (ShPP).

Employees will qualify for SPL if they meet the qualifying conditions set out at www.gov.uk/shared-parental-leave-and-pay/eligibility which provides an interactive calculator for employees seeking to assess their entitlement to SPL and ShPP

Eligible parents can take SPL at the same time or at different times. Periods of SPL can also be spread with periods of work.

A mother or primary adopter is under no obligation to shorten their statutory maternity / adoption leave entitlement and opt into the SPL regime. SPL can be taken in addition to the statutory right to two weeks’ paternity leave.

Dependant Leave

You will be allowed to take a reasonable amount of time off work to deal with certain unexpected or sudden emergencies, and to make any necessary longer term arrangements, which involve one of your dependants. This leave will be unpaid.

What constitutes a reasonable amount of time off will depend upon the individual circumstances.

The nature of the incident, the closeness of the relationship between the employee and the dependant and the extent to which another person was available to assist are all relevant factors.

A “dependant” will include the following:

• a spouse, partner, parent or child;

• a person who lives in the same household as you, otherwise than by reason of being your employee, tenant, lodger or boarder; or

• any person who reasonably relies on you for assistance on an occasion when the person falls ill, is injured or assaulted or to make arrangements for the provision of care in the event of illness or injury.

Examples of family emergencies which will be covered include the following: where a dependant falls ill, is injured, or is involved in an accident;

• where a dependant gives birth;

• to deal with the death of a dependant;

• if a child for whom you are responsible is involved in a serious incident during school hours; or

• if childcare or other arrangements unexpectedly break down in relation to a child for whom you are responsible.

The right to time off only applies if you inform your Adecco consultant: as soon as reasonably practicable; the reason for your absence; and how long you expect to be away from work (unless it is not reasonably practicable for you to tell us of the reason for their absence until you return to work).