Paternity, maternity and adoption leave support policy

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Introduction

The University is committed to equality of opportunity in employment for all its staff and to developing work practices and human resource policies that support work-life balance. Reflecting this commitment the provisions of this policy exceed the statutory minimum.

The aim of this policy is to inform employees and managers of their employment rights relating to paternity/maternity/adoption support leave and to provide a framework for decisions about the application of those rights.

Definition

Paternity/maternity/adoption support leave is a period of leave granted to an employee to enable them to care for their baby or to support the mother following the birth, or in the case of adoption support the parent who is taking adoption leave.

Section A - policy for babies due or placed before 3 April 2011:

Statutory entitlement

Ordinary Paternity leave is granted to a child's father or adopter or the mother or adopter’s husband/partner (including same sex partner).

To qualify for Ordinary Paternity Leave an employee must have 26 weeks or more continuous service by either

the end of the 15th week before the baby is due or
the end of the week they are notified they are matched with a child

The statutory entitlement requires this leave to be taken as either one week or two consecutive weeks leave.

An employee who is the father of the baby, or is the partner of the mother who gave birth is entitled to receive statutory paternity pay (SPP) during the period of paid leave. The rate of SPP is the same as the standard rate of statutory maternity pay.

Additional Brookes entitlement

In order to better enable staff to balance work and family commitments Oxford Brookes University has extended these statutory entitlements as follows:

as well as leave being granted to the groups identified above, the mother's nominated carer* is also entitled to request paid leave.

*A nominated carer is someone providing close personal support to an expectant mother in a situation where the mother does not have a partner and is not being supported by the child' s father. It is generally only available to a member of the mother' s immediate family.

the University will enhance SPP and pay for periods of leave at the normal full rate of pay for the member of staff who qualifies.
staff can take the leave as a two week block, two one-week blocks or as individual days.

Leave must be taken before the end of a of a six month period commencing with the date of the child's birth, or the date of placement in the case of adoption.

In the case of multiple births, not multiple adoptions, staff with 26 weeks continuous service ending with the 15th week before the baby is born will be eligible for an additional week of paid paternity/maternity/adoption support leave. Leave may be taken as a three week block, a two week and one week block, three one-week blocks or as individual days.

Sympathetic consideration will be given for any reasonable requests for paid time off to attend ante-natal clinics and classes supported by official evidence of appointments.

Additional Brookes entitlement for unpaid leave

Staff with 26 weeks continuous service ending with the week of the first day of paternity/maternity/adoption support leave are entitled to an additional period of up to 45 weeks unpaid paternity/maternity/adoption support leave.

Staff should refer to the policy on parental leave, the special leave and other leave policy, the career break policy, the flexible working policy and their right to request a change of working hours for further information on working practices designed to help staff balance their work and home commitments.

Section B: policy for babies due or placed after 3 April 2011

Ordinary paternity leave

Statutory entitlement

Ordinary Paternity leave is granted to a child's father or adopter or the mother or adopter’s husband/partner (including same sex partner).

To qualify for Ordinary Paternity Leave an employee must have 26 weeks or more continuous service by either

the end of the 15th week before the baby is due or
the end of the week they are notified they are matched with a child

The statutory entitlement requires this leave to be taken as either one week or two consecutive weeks leave.

Where a baby is still born during or after the 25th week of pregnancy the father, partner or nominated carer will be entitled to paternity/maternity support leave just as he/she would have been with a live birth.

Additional University entitlement

In order to better enable staff to balance work and family commitments Oxford Brookes University has extended the statutory entitlements for Ordinary Paternity Leave as follows:

As well as leave being granted to the groups identified above the mother's nominated carer is also entitled to request paid leave.
The University will enhance SPP and pay for days of leave at the normal full rate of pay for staff who qualify.
Staff can take the leave as a two week block, two one-week blocks or as individual days.

A nominated carer is someone providing close personal support to an expectant mother in a situation where the mother does not have a partner and is not being supported by the child' s father. It is generally only available to a member of the mother' s immediate family.

Leave must be taken before the end of a of a six month period commencing with the date of the child's birth, or the date of placement in the case of adoption.

Sympathetic consideration will be given for any reasonable requests for paid time off to attend ante-natal clinics and classes supported by official evidence of appointments.

Employees interested in taking additional leave during the first 20 weeks of their child’s life should refer to the policy on parental leave, the special leave and other leave policy, the career break policy, the flexible working policy and their right to request a change of working hours for further information on working practices designed to help staff balance their work and home commitments.

Additional paternity leave

Statutory entitlement

A new mother is entitled to transfer some of their maternity leave to their partner or the father of the child as Additional Paternity Leave (APL). In the case of adoption, the child’s adopter who elected to take adoption leave (the primary adopter) is able to transfer some of their adoption leave entitlement to the other member of the adopting couple.

To qualify for APL an employee must have the main responsibility (alongside the mother or adopter taking adoption leave) for the upbringing of the child and must have 26 weeks or more continuous service by either:

the end of the 15th week before the baby is due or
the end of the week they are notified they are matched with a child (adopting from the UK)
the date their child enters Great Britain for the purposes of adoption (adopting from overseas)

In addition the employee’s partner must:

have been entitled to one or more of the following; Statutory Maternity Leave, Statutory Maternity Pay, Maternity Allowance or Statutory Adoption Leave or Pay
have returned to work and ceased claiming any relevant pay

Eligible employees may take up to 26 weeks’ APL. The earliest that additional paternity leave can commence is 20 weeks after the date on which the child is born or placed with the employee, and it must end no later than 12 months after that date.

Additional paternity leave must be taken as a single block in multiples of complete weeks. The minimum period is two consecutive weeks and the maximum period is 26 weeks.

During the period of additional paternity leave, the employee’s contract of employment continues in force and they are entitled to receive all their contractual benefits except for salary. Their contractual annual leave entitlement will continue to accrue.

Employees are encouraged to take any outstanding annual leave due to them before the commencement of APL. Employees are reminded that holiday must be taken in the year that it is earned and therefore if the holiday year is due to end during additional paternity leave, the employee should take their outstanding entitlement before starting their APL.

Notification of an intention to take additional paternity leave

An employee must tell the University of the date they wish to start their APL using the Additional Parental Leave notice form available from the website at least eight weeks before they wish their APL to start. Using the APL notice form the employee must provide the University with the following information:

The expected week of childbirth or date of birth (depending on when the application for leave is made), or the date of placement in the case of adoption.
A signed declaration confirming that the purpose of the APL is to care for the child, that they are the child’s father, or are married to or are the partner or civil partner of the child’s mother or parent taking adoption leave and that they (alongside their partner) will have the main responsibility for bringing up the child.
The number of weeks APL they wish to take.
If they are eligible for Additional Statutory Paternity pay (ASPP), the employee must state when they expect their ASPP period to begin and end.

The employee must provide the name and business address of the mother’s or primary adopter’s employer and a copy of the child’s birth certificate or, in the case of an adopted child, evidence of the name and address of the adoption agency, the date on which they were notified of having been matched with the child and the date on which the agency expects to place the child for adoption. The employee should supply this information with the APL application.

The employee must also provide a signed declaration from the mother or other adoptive parent that should include.

The mother or other adoptive parents name, address and NI number.
The date on which the mother or other adoptive parent intends to return from maternity or adoption leave.
Confirmation from the mother or other adoptive parent that the employee has the status set out in the APL notice form and is, to their knowledge the only person taking APL in respect of the child and (where applicable) the sole applicant for additional statutory paternity pay.
Consent from the mother or other adoptive parent for the University to process the information.

The APL declaration form on the website can be used for this purpose.

The University will formally respond in writing to the employee’s notification of their APL plans within 28 calendar days, confirming the relevant start and end dates of additional paternity leave and pay (where relevant).

The employee is permitted to bring forward their APL start date, provided that they advise the University in writing at least eight weeks before the new start date. The employee may also postpone their APL start date, or cancel their APL altogether, provided that they advise the University in writing at least eight weeks before the original proposed start date. The University will formally respond in writing to the employee’s notification of the change to their APL plans within 28 calendar days, confirming the revised start and end dates for APL and pay (where relevant).

Failure on the part of the employee to provide complete and accurate information in support of an application for APL may amount to misconduct under the University’s disciplinary policy and lead to disciplinary action being taken.

Contact during additional paternity leave

Shortly before an employee's APL starts, the University will discuss arrangements for them to keep in touch during their leave, should they wish to do so. The University reserves the right in any event to maintain reasonable contact with the employee from time to time during their APL. This may be to discuss the employee's plans for return to work, to discuss any special arrangements to be made or training to be given to ease their return to work or simply to update them on developments at work during their absence.

Keeping-in-touch days during additional paternity leave

An employee can agree to work for the University (or to attend training) for up to 10 days during APL without that work bringing the period of their additional paternity leave to an end and without loss of a week's statutory paternity pay (if relevant). These are known as "keeping-in-touch" days. Any work carried out on a day shall constitute a day's work for these purposes.

The University has no right to require the employee to carry out any work, and the employee has no right to undertake any work their APL. Any work undertaken, including the amount of salary paid for any work done on keeping-in-touch days, is entirely a matter for agreement between the University and the employee. Once the keeping-in-touch days have been used up, the employee will, (if relevant) lose a week's statutory paternity pay for any week in which they agree to work for the University. It may also bring the additional paternity leave period to an end.

Returning to work after additional paternity leave

The employee will have formally advised the University of the end date of their APL on the Additional Parental Leave notice form. The employee is expected to return on the next working day after this date, unless they notify the University otherwise. If they are unable to attend work at the end of APL due to sickness or injury, the University's normal arrangements for sickness absence will apply. In any other case, late return without prior authorisation will be treated as unauthorised absence.

If the employee wishes to return to work earlier than the expected return date, they must give the University at least eight weeks' written notice of their date of early return. If they fail to do so, the University may postpone their return to such a date as will give the University eight weeks' notice, provided that this is not later than the expected return date.
If the employee wishes to return to work later than the expected return date they must give the University at least eight weeks' written notice of the new date. This date cannot extend the period of APL beyond 26 weeks or beyond 12 months after the date of birth or placement. If they fail to give the requisite notice, the University may refuse their request.

If the employee decides not to return to work after additional paternity leave, they must give notice of resignation as soon as possible and in accordance with the terms of their contract of employment. If the notice period would expire after APL has ended, the University may require the employee to return to work for the remainder of the notice period.

Rights on and after return to work

On resuming work after additional paternity leave the employee is entitled to return to the same job as they occupied before commencing paternity leave on the same terms and conditions of employment as if they had not been absent except in the situation that their post is made redundant whilst they are on leave.

If, during an employee's APL their post is made redundant they will be offered suitable alternative work if it is available. The new role they are offered must be both suitable and appropriate for them to do in the circumstances and the capacity and place in which they are employed. The terms and conditions of employment must be no less favourable than those of their previous job.

If the University offers the employee a suitable alternative vacancy and they unreasonably refuse it the employee may forfeit their right to a redundancy payment.

An employee who feels they have been unfairly selected for redundancy on grounds related to their APL is entitled to raise a complaint through the grievance procedure.

Pension arrangements

See summary of pension arrangements for employees taking maternity leave, adoption leave, paternity/maternity/ adoption support leave

Additional paternity pay

Additional statutory paternity pay (ASPP) may be payable during some of the APL.
To qualify for ASPP an employee must earn at least the lower earnings limit for National Insurance contributions in force at the end of the qualifying week, must be taking time off to care for the child and must have given proper notification in accordance with the rules set out in the APL section above. In addition the employees partner must have:

returned to work
stopped claiming any relevant pay, with at least two weeks of unexpired Statutory Pay period remaining

Additional Paternity Pay is only payable during the period of the employee’s partner’s 39 week Maternity Allowance, Statutory Maternity or Statutory Adoption Pay period.

Statutory entitlement

The statutory rate for additional paternity pay is the same as the prescribed rate of statutory maternity pay. The amount of paid leave available to either partner is 39 weeks in total. If the mother or primary adopter does not exhaust their entitlement to SMP/SAP and the employee takes APL during the period when SMP/SAP would be paid the balance will be payable to the employee. Additional paternity pay is payable whether or not the employee intends to return to work after their APL.

Additional Brookes entitlement

Employees taking additional paternity leave during weeks where the University would offer the option of half pay to an employee taking maternity or adoption leave (i.e. weeks 20 to 26) are entitled to those weeks at 50% of salary plus the statutory paternity pay flat rate. Half pay is optional and is dependent on an intention (and ability) to return to work for at least 3 months pro-rata after the period of paternity leave.

Unreasonable refusal of leave

Staff who feel that they have been unreasonably refused the right to APL or who feel that they have been victimised for requesting such leave should, in the first instance raise the matter with their line manager and inform their link HR Manager. They can also consult with their union and have the right to raise the matter in line with the grievance procedure.

Any complaints will be recorded and monitored, with the aim of bringing about consistency between Faculties and Directorates in the way that policies related to work-life balance are implemented.

Staff also have the right to make a complaint to an employment tribunal. A complaint to a tribunal must normally be made within 3 months of the date when time off was refused or the victimisation took place.

Updated March 2011