An employee adopting a child through a UK adoption agency can take up to 52 weeks of statutory adoption leave from day one of employment. Statutory Adoption Pay is paid for 39 weeks - the first 6 weeks at 90% of average weekly earnings, the remaining 33 weeks at the lower of £194.32 (from 6 April 2026) or 90% of earnings. Pay requires 26 weeks' service by the matching week. Only one parent can take adoption leave; the other can take paternity leave.
How adoption leave works
Statutory adoption leave (SAL) is the equivalent of maternity leave for adoptive parents. It runs for up to 52 weeks, split into 26 weeks of Ordinary Adoption Leave (OAL) followed by 26 weeks of Additional Adoption Leave (AAL). Adoption leave is a day-one right and has been since 2015 - it never had the 26-week qualifying period that paternity leave used to have.
SAL applies when an employee is matched with a child for adoption through a UK adoption agency, adopts a child from overseas, or becomes the parental order parent of a child born through a surrogacy arrangement. It does not apply to private adoptions of relatives, step-children, or kinship arrangements without an adoption agency involved.
Where a couple adopts jointly, only one of them can take adoption leave. They choose between themselves who takes SAL and who takes paternity leave. Both can later opt into shared parental leave if they meet the eligibility criteria - see our shared parental leave guide.
Same statutory family pay rate from 6 April 2026. SAP, SMP, SPP, ShPP and Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay all rose to £194.32 per week (or 90% of earnings if lower) from 6 April 2026, in line with annual uprating. The Lower Earnings Limit is £125 per week for 2026/27.
Eligibility: leave vs pay
The key thing to internalise is that leave and pay are tested separately. An employee may be eligible for one and not the other - and that is a real outcome you will see, not an edge case.
| Test | Statutory Adoption Leave | Statutory Adoption Pay |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Must be an employee (not a worker, agency worker or self-employed) | Must be employed for tax purposes (PAYE), so includes some agency workers |
| Service | Day one of employment | 26 weeks' continuous service by the end of the matching week |
| Earnings | No earnings test | Average weekly earnings of at least £125 (the LEL for 2026/27) over the 8 weeks before the matching week |
| Matching | Matched with a child by a UK adoption agency, OR adopting from overseas, OR a parental order parent in a surrogacy arrangement | Same as for leave |
| Notice | Within 7 days of being matched | Same notice as for leave plus a written request |
An agency worker matched with a child is a common worked example. They will not be entitled to leave (because they are not an employee for adoption leave purposes) but they may be entitled to pay if they meet the PAYE, service and earnings tests. They simply agree time off with their agency.
The matching week is the trigger date. The matching week is the week in which the employee is officially notified by the adoption agency that they have been matched with a child. The Sunday-to-Saturday week containing the notification date is the matching week. Working any part of a week, even one hour, counts as work for that week. This is what the 26-week service test runs back from.
Statutory Adoption Pay (£194.32 from April 2026)
SAP is paid for up to 39 weeks and is structured exactly like SMP:
Average weekly earnings (AWE) are calculated over the 8 weeks ending with the matching week. SAP is treated as earnings - it is fully subject to PAYE income tax and National Insurance and is paid through payroll like any other wage. You can recover most of it from HMRC: 92% of SAP for most employers, and 108.5% under the Small Employers' Relief if your total Class 1 NICs in the qualifying tax year were £45,000 or less. The rates are the same as for SMP.
Form SAP1. If an employee is not entitled to SAP, you must issue them form SAP1 within 7 days of the decision, explaining why. The leave entitlement still stands - SAP1 only refuses pay. The employee may be able to get other support from their local council.
When adoption leave can start
The earliest start date depends on the route to adoption:
| Route | Earliest start | Latest start |
|---|---|---|
| UK adoption | Up to 14 days before the expected placement date | The day the child starts living with the employee |
| Overseas adoption | The day the child arrives in the UK | Within 28 days of the child's arrival in the UK |
| Surrogacy (parental order parent) | The day the baby is born or the day after | The day the baby is born or the day after |
| Foster-to-adopt (Early Permanence) | When the foster placement converts to an adoption placement, treated as the new placement date | Same as UK adoption |
The earliest-start window is generous on purpose. UK adopters often want a few days off before the child is placed to prepare, attend introduction sessions, or travel to the foster carers. The 14-day window covers that. Overseas adopters cannot start leave until the child is in the UK, but they can travel out using annual leave or unpaid leave first.
Notice and evidence the employee must give
Notice is much shorter for adoption than maternity because the timeline is unpredictable. The matching letter can arrive at any point, and placement usually happens within weeks. The standard rules:
Form SC4. The employee can use form SC4 from GOV.UK to give written notice of adoption leave and request SAP at the same time. This collects all the evidence in one place. You don't have to require a specific form - email is fine - but having a standard one keeps the file tidy.
KIT days during adoption leave
Keeping In Touch (KIT) days allow an employee on adoption leave to work for their employer for up to 10 days during their 52 weeks of leave without ending it. They are identical in concept to KIT days during maternity leave.
- Both parties must agree to each KIT day. The employer cannot require them and the employee cannot demand them.
- Any work counts as a KIT day, regardless of how long. Half a day still counts as one full KIT day.
- The employee receives their normal contractual pay for KIT days, with SAP offset. Most employers pay full salary minus the SAP that would have been received that week.
- KIT days do not extend the 52 weeks of leave - they sit inside it.
- Common KIT day uses: training days, team away-days, the first day of a phased return, important client meetings.
SPLIT days are different. If the employee converts adoption leave into Shared Parental Leave, the limit changes. SPL allows up to 20 SPLIT (Shared Parental Leave In Touch) days per parent. So a couple sharing leave can have up to 30 days between them on each side of the conversion - 10 KIT days for the part taken as adoption leave and 20 SPLIT days for the SPL portion.
The other parent: paternity, SPL, or both
When two people adopt jointly, only one takes adoption leave. The other has options:
Paternity leave for adoptions is now a day-one right from 6 April 2026, in line with the Employment Rights Act 2025 reforms. Statutory Paternity Pay still requires 26 weeks of service. For the full set of rules including the 28-day notice window and Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave, see our paternity leave employer guide.
Overseas adoption and surrogacy variations
Overseas adoption
The mechanics are the same but the timing is different. The matching trigger is replaced by an "official notification" from the UK competent authority (usually a letter confirming the employee has been deemed suitable to adopt). The employee must:
- Tell the employer they intend to adopt overseas within 28 days of receiving official notification, including the date the child is expected to enter the UK.
- Give the employer at least 28 days' notice of when they want adoption leave to start, once travel arrangements firm up.
- Have 26 weeks' continuous service ending with the week of official notification for SAP.
The leave can begin when the child enters the UK, and can be backdated to that date if the employee did not start it immediately. They must use form SC5 to give notice.
Surrogacy (parental order parents)
Where the baby is born to a surrogate and the intended parents will apply for a parental order, the parental order parents are entitled to adoption leave and SAP - subject to applying for the parental order within 6 months of the birth. The 15-week-before-due-date notice rule applies (the same as maternity), and SAP service is tested against the qualifying week (15 weeks before due date).
If only one of the intended parents is genetically related to the child (egg or sperm donor), they can choose between adoption leave or paternity leave - they cannot have both.
Foster-to-adopt (Early Permanence)
Adoption leave starts when the foster placement converts to an adoption placement. The matching certificate is issued at that point, and notice runs from then. Regional adoption agencies issue specific written notification of the early permanence arrangement which serves the same purpose as a matching certificate.
Practical employer process
A clean, end-to-end process for handling each adoption leave request:
Sample adoption leave policy clause
1. Entitlement. Employees who are matched with a child for adoption through a UK adoption agency, who are adopting from overseas, or who are parental order parents in a surrogacy arrangement are entitled to up to 52 weeks of statutory adoption leave (SAL) from the first day of employment. SAL is split into 26 weeks of Ordinary Adoption Leave and 26 weeks of Additional Adoption Leave.
2. Notice. For UK adoptions, the employee must notify their line manager and HR within 7 days of being matched with a child, providing the matching certificate. For overseas adoptions, notice must be given within 28 days of receiving official notification. For surrogacy, notice must be given by the 15th week before the baby's due date.
3. Statutory Adoption Pay. Eligible employees receive Statutory Adoption Pay for up to 39 weeks. The first 6 weeks are paid at 90% of average weekly earnings; the remaining 33 weeks at the lower of the prevailing statutory rate (£194.32 from 6 April 2026) or 90% of average weekly earnings. SAP is paid through payroll subject to PAYE.
4. Enhanced scheme [optional]. [Insert any enhanced contractual adoption pay - many employers offer full pay for the first 12-26 weeks of adoption leave, returning to SAP for the remainder.]
5. Leave start. Adoption leave can start up to 14 days before the expected placement date and no later than the day the child starts living with the employee. For overseas adoptions, leave starts when the child arrives in the UK. For surrogacy, on the day the baby is born or the day after.
6. Keeping In Touch. Up to 10 KIT days are available during adoption leave, by mutual agreement. The employee receives normal pay for KIT days, with SAP offset.
7. Return. An employee returning from OAL has the right to return to the same job. An employee returning from AAL has the right to return to the same job or, if not reasonably practicable, a similar role with no less favourable terms. Eight weeks' written notice is required for an early return.
8. Other parent. Where a couple is adopting jointly, only one parent can take adoption leave. The other may be entitled to statutory paternity leave (1 or 2 weeks), or to shared parental leave by mutual agreement.
Sources
FAQs
This is not legal advice. Adoption leave and pay rules can be fiddly, especially for overseas and surrogacy cases. For advice on a specific situation, consult an employment solicitor or call the ACAS helpline on 0300 123 1100 (free).