Adoption leave: eligibility and pay
You have a right to time off if you qualify as an employee. Check pay separately, then put your notice in writing before the deadline.
If you have been matched with a child, start with two things today: save the match confirmation and write to your employer. For a UK agency adoption, the seven-day notice clock starts at matching. You may have a right to up to 52 weeks off even if you do not qualify for statutory pay. This guide shows what to send, which partner can claim, and how same-sex couples have the same rights.
- 52 wks
- maximum adoption leave for eligible employees
- £194.32
- weekly flat pay rate from 6 April 2026
- 39 wks
- maximum weeks of statutory adoption pay
- 7 days
- UK agency match notice deadline
Can same-sex couples adopt?
Yes. Same-sex couples can adopt jointly throughout the UK. Single people can also adopt, whatever their sexual orientation. Neither marriage nor a particular gender determines which partner can claim adoption leave.
In Great Britain, adoption agencies must not reject you because of your sexual orientation. The Equality Act 2010 protects you against that discrimination. Agencies assess whether you can meet the child’s needs, using home visits, references, health and criminal-record checks. New Family Social offers support for LGBTQ+ adopters, but your work rights do not depend on joining a support organisation. Northern Ireland has separate equality and adoption law.
Which partner takes adoption leave?
You choose which partner claims adoption leave. That person is often called the primary adopter. The other partner may qualify for paternity leave and pay, regardless of their sex or gender.
Compare both employers’ adoption and paternity policies before you decide. Check who qualifies for statutory pay, who gets an employer top-up and whether enhanced pay has a return-to-work condition. You can start this conversation before matching. Once the agency confirms the match, the seven-day notice deadline begins.
You cannot both take adoption leave for the same placement or transfer it between you halfway through. To share a longer period, the adopter must end adoption leave early or give binding notice to end it. Subject to separate eligibility tests, the unused entitlement can become shared parental leave.
How much leave, and when does it start?
Statutory Adoption Leave lasts up to 52 weeks: 26 weeks of ordinary adoption leave followed by 26 weeks of additional adoption leave. You must be an employee in a qualifying adoption or surrogacy arrangement and give the correct notice. Your employer can ask for proof. Neither your earnings nor your length of service determines the leave entitlement.
When leave can start depends on the route to parenthood:
| Route | Earliest start | Latest start |
|---|---|---|
| UK agency adoption | 14 days before expected placement | The placement date |
| Eligible foster care placement leading to adoption | 14 days before expected placement | The placement date |
| Overseas adoption | The day the child enters the UK | 28 days after entry |
| Surrogacy, where you qualify as a parental-order parent | The day of birth | The following day if you worked on the birth date |
If the placement or overseas arrival date changes, tell your employer within 28 days. To change your chosen leave start date, normally give at least 28 days’ notice. To change your return date, give at least eight weeks’ notice. Your employer must confirm your leave dates within 28 days of your notice.
How much adoption pay will you get?
Statutory Adoption Pay lasts up to 39 weeks. The 2026/27 adoption-pay rates apply from 6 April 2026:
- weeks 1–6: 90% of your average weekly earnings, with no cap;
- weeks 7–39: £194.32 a week, or 90% of your earnings if that is lower.
These are gross amounts. Your employer pays them through payroll, with tax and National Insurance deducted where due. An enhanced adoption-pay policy may pay more, but cannot replace your statutory minimum with less.
For a UK agency adoption, you need at least 26 weeks’ continuous employment with your employer by the matching week and average weekly earnings of at least £129 before tax. Payroll uses a relevant earnings period, normally eight weeks. Ask for the calculation if your earnings vary or sit close to the threshold. Correct notice and proof of adoption are also required. Overseas adoption and surrogacy use different qualifying dates, explained below.
If your employer decides you do not qualify, it must give you form SAP1 within seven days of that decision, explaining why. Ask payroll to show you the service and earnings calculation. If it has withheld pay you are owed, that is wage theft, not a harmless payroll mistake. Keep SAP1 if you challenge the decision or apply for benefits. You may qualify for Universal Credit or local-authority adoption support, but neither is an automatic replacement for adoption pay.
Example: Amara and Jess plan their budget
Both meet the statutory pay tests. Amara earns £500 a week on average and takes adoption leave. Her first six weeks pay 90% of £500, or £450 a week: £2,700 altogether. The next 33 pay £194.32 a week: £6,412.56. Her total is £9,112.56 before deductions. Jess earns £400 a week and takes two weeks of paternity leave. At £194.32 a week, Jess gets £388.64 before deductions.
If Amara takes the full year, weeks 40 to 52 have no statutory adoption pay. This budget holds the 2026/27 rate constant to show the calculation. A real claim crossing the next annual uprating may pay a different total.
Tell your employer before the deadline
- Give notice within seven days of matching. For a UK agency adoption, state the expected placement date and your chosen leave start date. For an eligible foster care placement leading to adoption, Acas says the deadline runs from placement confirmation.
- Give at least 28 days’ notice for pay. State when you want Statutory Adoption Pay to start. You can give the leave and pay notices together. If full notice is not reasonably practicable, tell your employer as soon as you can and explain why.
- Supply the adoption evidence. Proof is compulsory for adoption pay, even if your employer has not asked. For leave alone, provide it if asked. The evidence must identify you and the agency, the match date and the expected or actual placement date. Usually this means a matching certificate and, if needed, an agency letter.
- Check the written confirmation. Your employer must confirm the leave dates within 28 days, and confirm how much statutory pay you will get and when it starts and stops. A refusal of pay requires SAP1 within seven days of the decision.
Keep a written copy of your notice and evidence. If meeting the seven-day deadline was not reasonably practicable, give notice as soon as reasonably practicable. That is a legal exception, not a favour from your employer. Overseas adoption and surrogacy have their own notice rules.
Example: a match confirmed on 5 October
Your agency tells you on 5 October 2026 that you have been matched with a child whose expected placement is 2 November. Give adoption-leave notice by 12 October. The earliest leave start is 19 October, 14 days before placement. If you want pay to start on 2 November, give pay notice on 5 October to meet the 28-day requirement. Waiting until the seven-day leave deadline would not give 28 days’ notice for pay.
What the other partner gets
Paternity leave and pay
In Great Britain, an eligible employee can take one or two weeks of paternity leave from the first day of employment. Since 6 April 2026, the 26-week service requirement applies to pay, not leave. You can take two weeks together or as two separate one-week blocks. All leave must finish within 52 weeks of placement.
For a UK agency adoption, Statutory Paternity Pay normally needs 26 weeks’ continuous employment by the matching week and average earnings of at least £129 a week. It pays £194.32 a week or 90% of average earnings, whichever is lower. Give your employer notice within seven days of matching, including the planned dates for both blocks if you are splitting leave. Changes normally need 28 days’ notice. GOV.UK also says to claim at least 28 days before the second separate week. Follow the adoption-specific claim rules, not the birth-parent timetable.
Taking paid time off for adoption appointments rules out paternity leave and pay. Choose your appointment entitlement carefully. The partner planning to take paternity leave should use the unpaid appointment entitlement, unless their employer offers a separate contractual arrangement.
Shared parental leave
Shared parental leave comes from the unused adoption entitlement. The adopter ends leave and pay early, or gives binding notice of when they will end. The maximum available is 50 weeks of shared leave and 37 weeks of shared pay. Give at least eight weeks’ written notice. Your partner can start shared leave while you are still on adoption leave if you have already given binding notice to end it. You do not both have to wait for your return to work.
Each parent who wants shared parental leave must be an employee with 26 weeks’ continuous employment by the matching week and remain with that employer until their shared leave starts. Each needs average weekly earnings of at least £129 for shared pay. If only one parent wants shared leave, the other can meet a different test: work in at least 26 of the 66 weeks before placement week and earnings totalling at least £390 in 13 of those weeks. Self-employment can count towards that other-parent test. It does not give a self-employed parent leave or pay.
GOV.UK says an adopter claiming adoption pay must take at least two weeks of adoption leave before switching. You must use shared leave and pay within the first year after placement. Shared pay is £194.32 a week or 90% of average earnings if lower. It does not have adoption pay’s uncapped first six weeks.
Example: sharing after 12 weeks
If you use 12 weeks of adoption leave and pay, you have 40 weeks of leave and 27 weeks of pay left to share. You could each take 20 weeks of shared leave at the same time. That uses all 40 leave weeks in 20 calendar weeks. It does not give you 40 paid weeks: the 27 pay weeks must still be allocated between you.
Unpaid parental leave
Employees with parental responsibility can take up to 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave per child before the child’s 18th birthday. The usual limit is four weeks per child each year, unless your employer agrees more. Leave is normally taken in whole weeks, with exceptions for a disabled child or an employer agreement. Since 6 April 2026, there is no minimum service requirement in Great Britain. This is separate from adoption and shared parental leave.
Appointments and keeping in touch
After matching, the employee taking adoption leave is entitled to paid time off for up to five appointments arranged or requested by the agency. The other partner is entitled to unpaid time off for two. Each appointment has a 6.5-hour limit, including travel. Your employer can ask for appointment evidence. These rights do not cover every assessment meeting before matching.
You and your employer can agree up to ten keeping-in-touch days during adoption leave without ending it or losing statutory pay. Neither side can insist. Agree the work and payment in advance; the law does not set a special KIT pay rate. Even part of a day’s work uses a whole KIT day. Shared parental leave has a separate allowance of up to 20 SPLIT days for each employee taking it.
Early placements, overseas adoption and surrogacy
If you are both an approved adopter and an approved foster parent, an eligible foster care placement can trigger adoption leave before the final adoption order. Acas allows leave from up to 14 days before the expected placement. Ordinary foster care alone does not qualify. Ask the agency to confirm the type of placement and provide the evidence your employer needs.
Adopting from overseas
The maximum remains 52 weeks of leave and 39 weeks of pay, but the service test for pay is 26 weeks by the start of the pay period, rather than by a UK matching week. If you are adopting with a partner, complete form SC6. It confirms that you, the adoption claimant, are not also taking paternity leave or pay. It does not stop your partner claiming their own paternity entitlement.
Usually, tell your employer the official-notification date and expected UK arrival date within 28 days of receiving the notification. If you have fewer than 26 weeks’ service, GOV.UK sets a later deadline of 28 days from the Sunday in your 26th week. Then report the actual arrival date within 28 days and give at least 28 days’ notice of your leave start date. Provide the UK authority’s official notification and evidence of arrival. Follow the overseas claim instructions rather than the seven-day UK matching rule.
Becoming a parent through surrogacy
To use adoption leave, you must have applied, or intend to apply within six months of birth, for a parental order and expect it to be granted. For statutory pay, you need 26 weeks’ employment by the 15th week before the baby is due, plus the earnings test. Tell your employer the due date and your intended leave start at least 15 weeks before the expected week of birth. If asked, provide a statutory declaration signed in the presence of a legal professional.
Leave starts on the birth date, or the next day if you worked that day. One intended parent can take adoption leave and the other may qualify for paternity leave. You cannot claim both for yourself. See surrogacy leave for intended parents for the parental-order conditions.
Job protection and redundancy
Your contractual benefits continue during adoption leave, apart from remuneration. You also keep accruing annual leave during paid and unpaid weeks. Agree when to use that holiday before you leave if possible.
In Great Britain, the redundancy protected period starts when adoption leave begins and ends 18 months after placement, or after UK entry for an overseas adoption. If your role is redundant, your employer must offer you a suitable alternative vacancy in priority to employees without that protection. You do not have to compete for it. Protection does not prevent every redundancy, and an employer may need a fair selection process if several protected employees qualify for too few vacancies.
After up to 26 weeks of adoption leave, you normally have the right to your old job. After longer leave, that remains the starting point. Your employer can offer a suitable and appropriate alternative on no worse terms only if returning you to the same job is not reasonably practicable. Consecutive periods of other statutory leave can affect the return rules.
Dismissal because you took or sought adoption leave is automatically unfair. If your employer refuses leave, gives you a worse job or asks you to resign “until the child settles”, keep the correspondence and get advice promptly. In Great Britain, contact Acas; in Northern Ireland, contact the Labour Relations Agency. Do not resign without advice. See our redundancy pay guide for the separate financial entitlement.
Do not face this alone. UNISON organises in care and health, Unite in hospitality, Usdaw in retail, and GMB in delivery and logistics. Citizens Advice and local law centres can help if you are not in a union. For discrimination advice in Great Britain, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service. Report National Minimum Wage underpayment to HMRC; report labour exploitation in the GLAA’s sectors to the GLAA; report unsafe work to the Health and Safety Executive. These are separate routes, not substitutes for a tribunal deadline.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
England, Wales and Scotland have the same adoption-leave, statutory-pay and notice rules. Scottish income tax bands can affect what you receive after deductions, not your entitlement.
Northern Ireland also offers up to 52 weeks of adoption leave and 39 weeks of statutory pay at the same rates. Its paternity guidance requires 26 weeks’ service and allows one or two weeks. If you choose two, they must be consecutive and taken within the 56-day window, not split across a year. The Great Britain day-one reforms do not themselves amend Northern Ireland law.
Do not assume Great Britain’s extended redundancy protection applies in Northern Ireland. Employment law there is separate. Check the current Northern Ireland position with the Labour Relations Agency, alongside our guide to employment law in Northern Ireland.
Which reforms can you rely on now?
- Longer redundancy protection and flexible paternity leave in Great Britain
Adoption-leave redundancy protection extended to 18 months after placement. For qualifying new placements, paternity leave could be split into two one-week blocks within 52 weeks.
- Day-one paternity and unpaid parental leave in Great Britain
The Employment Rights Act 2025 removed the service requirements for these leave rights. It also allowed paternity leave after shared parental leave. Statutory pay still has separate service and earnings tests.
- Wider bereavement leave is planned, not yet in force
The government’s timetable includes bereavement leave, including pregnancy loss, in 2027. That is not a new right you can claim now.
Questions people ask
Do same-sex couples get the same adoption leave?
Yes. Sex and sexual orientation do not change adoption-leave eligibility. One eligible partner claims adoption leave; the other may claim paternity leave or shared parental leave if they meet those rules.
Can we both be off work at the same time?
Yes, although you cannot both claim adoption leave for the same placement. The other partner can take paternity leave while the adopter is home. Eligible couples can also take shared parental leave together after the adopter gives binding notice to end adoption leave. Each parent’s weeks count against the shared total.
What if you qualify for leave but not pay?
An eligible employee can still take up to 52 weeks of adoption leave. Ask for SAP1 and check whether your employer offers contractual adoption pay. You may qualify for benefits or local-authority adoption support, but Statutory Adoption Pay is not automatic.
Can a self-employed partner take shared parental leave?
No. A self-employed partner’s work and earnings can help the employed parent pass the other-parent eligibility test, but cannot give the self-employed person statutory leave or pay. Compare your entitlements before choosing the adopter. The employed partner will not necessarily qualify for statutory pay.
Does adopting a stepchild trigger adoption leave?
No. Stepchild, family-member and private adoptions, and special guardianship, do not qualify for statutory adoption leave or pay. Ask about annual leave, contractual leave or unpaid parental leave if you meet its conditions.
What happens if the placement breaks down?
In Great Britain, if a placement is cancelled after leave has begun, the child is returned or the child dies, adoption leave normally ends eight weeks after the end of the Sunday-to-Saturday week in which that happens. It ends sooner if your original leave entitlement expires first. This is the rule in regulation 22, not simply eight weeks from the event date. Tell your employer promptly and ask it to confirm the leave and pay position.
Sources
- Adoption pay and leave, GOV.UK
- How to claim adoption leave and pay, GOV.UK
- Statutory Adoption Pay and Leave: eligibility, GOV.UK
- Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027, HMRC
- Paternity leave and pay for adoption and surrogacy, GOV.UK
- Paternity leave and pay: eligibility and appointment restriction, GOV.UK
- Shared parental leave and pay: adopter eligibility, GOV.UK
- When shared parental leave and pay can start, GOV.UK
- Unpaid parental leave entitlement, GOV.UK
- Adoption notice and appointment rights, Acas
- Planning adoption leave, KIT days and disrupted placements, Acas
- Returning to work after adoption leave, Acas
- Redundancy protection for pregnancy and new parents, Acas
- Adoption leave for UK adoptions and surrogacy, nidirect
- Paternity leave in Northern Ireland, nidirect
- Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2002, legislation.gov.uk
- Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave Amendment Regulations 2024, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 2025 commencement on 6 April 2026, legislation.gov.uk
- Overseas adoption declaration, form SC6, HMRC
- Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act timeline update, Department for Business and Trade
- Parental Leave Call for Evidence submission, TUC
- Tribunals Statistics Quarterly, October to December 2025, Ministry of Justice
- Pay and work rights complaints, GOV.UK
- Report an issue, Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority
- Raise a concern, Health and Safety Executive
- Equality and Human Rights Commission
- Work, Citizens Advice
- Law Centres Network