Commentary on Sections Part One: Statutory Leave and Pay Adoption leave and Statutory Adoption Pay
23.Since 1999 adoptive parents have been entitled to unpaid parental leave but they have not until now had a statutory right to paid leave to care for a child. It is best practice for at least one adoptive parent to spend time at home with the child in the months following placement. Support to adoptive parents is currently offered by about a third of employers. After the consultation process ended in 2001, the Government announced it was introducing a right to 26 weeks’ paid adoption leave from 2003.
24.Section 3 inserts provisions into the Employment Rights Act 1996 for an adoptive parent to take adoption leave around the placement of a child for adoption. Paid adoption leave will provide time for the adoptive child and parent to adjust to their new relationships. It is hoped that enabling adoptive parents to spend more time with their child will help reduce the number of disrupted placements. The right to return to a job after adoption leave is also intended to benefit those parents who would prefer to return to the labour market but might otherwise have difficulty doing so. Together, the sections on adoption leave and Statutory Adoption Pay aim to fulfil these objectives. The new right to adoption leave is in addition to the right to 13 weeks’ parental leave (18 weeks for parents of disabled children) provided for in regulations made under the Employment Rights Act 1996. The new right to Statutory Adoption Pay will be financed by the state, with employers able to recover a percentage of the amount of Statutory Adoption Pay they pay out.