Adoption leave mirrors maternity leave in many respects, but it has its own rules, timelines, and eligibility criteria that employers must understand. Whether your employee is adopting through an agency, fostering to adopt, or becoming a parent through surrogacy, this guide covers the full picture for UK employers.
Statutory adoption leave is available to an employee who has been matched with a child for adoption through a UK adoption agency. The key eligibility rules are:
Eligible employees are entitled to up to 52 weeks of adoption leave, structured identically to maternity leave:
Adoption leave can start on the date of placement (when the child begins living with the adopter) or up to 14 days before the expected date of placement. The employee chooses the start date and must notify the employer in advance.
Statutory Adoption Pay follows the same structure and rates as Statutory Maternity Pay:
| Period | Duration | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| First 6 weeks | Weeks 1–6 | 90% of average weekly earnings (no cap) |
| Next 33 weeks | Weeks 7–39 | £184.03 per week or 90% of average weekly earnings — whichever is lower |
| Final 13 weeks | Weeks 40–52 | Unpaid |
The £184.03 rate is the 2025/26 figure. SAP is reviewed each April. As with SMP, most employers can reclaim 92% of SAP from HMRC (or 103% if eligible for Small Employers' Relief).
To qualify for Statutory Adoption Pay, the employee must meet both conditions:
If the employee does not qualify for SAP, the employer must provide an SAP1 form explaining why, so the employee can explore alternative support.
The employee must notify the employer of their intention to take adoption leave within 7 days of being matched with a child (or as soon as reasonably practicable). The notification must include:
The employer can request a matching certificate from the adoption agency as evidence. Within 28 days of the employee's notification, the employer must respond in writing confirming the expected end date of the adoption leave.
The employee can change their start date by giving 28 days' notice of the new date.
Before the child is placed, employees have a statutory right to time off to attend adoption appointments:
Each appointment can last up to 6.5 hours (including travel and waiting time). The employer can ask for evidence of the appointment, such as a letter from the adoption agency.
In "fostering to adopt" arrangements (also called "early permanence placements"), a child is placed with approved foster carers who are also approved adopters. The child lives with the family as foster carers initially, and adoption follows later if appropriate.
Employees in fostering-to-adopt arrangements are entitled to the same adoption leave and pay as those in standard adoptions. The leave can start from the date the child is placed with the employee as a foster carer, not from the later date when the adoption order is made.
This is an important distinction — employers should not require employees to wait until the adoption is formally confirmed before allowing leave to begin.
Since 2015, intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement who meet the conditions for a parental order are eligible for adoption leave and pay. The intended parent who will take adoption leave must:
The other intended parent may be eligible for paternity leave or shared parental leave. This is an evolving area of law, and employers should take care to treat surrogacy arrangements with the same respect and support as other routes to parenthood.
During adoption leave, the employee can work up to 10 Keeping in Touch (KIT) days without ending their adoption leave. As with maternity leave KIT days:
KIT days are useful for training, team updates, handover planning, or easing back into work before the formal return date.
Employees on adoption leave have the same protections as those on maternity leave:
Adoption leave involves overlapping dates, pay periods, KIT days, and accruing annual leave — just like maternity leave. Leavely makes it straightforward to manage: