Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Adoption definition

What does Adoption mean? Adoption is the court process by which an adult or couple becomes a child’s legal parent(s), permanently replacing the legal status of the birth parent(s). When an adoption order is made, parental responsibility (England & Wales and Northern Ireland) or parental responsibilities and rights (Scotland) transfers in full to the adopter(s); the birth parents’ legal rights and duties are extinguished, subject to any contact the court may authorise. The child is treated in law as the child of the adopter(s) for all purposes, including name, birth registration and inheritance. The law is statutory in each jurisdiction (for example, the...

Statutory Adoption Leave in Great Britain: Entitlement, Notice, OAL/AAL, Rights During Leave, Overseas Adoptions, Fostering-to-Adopt, Surrogacy (Parental Order) Cases and Interaction with Paternity and Shared Parental Leave

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Practice notes

Statutory Adoption leave

An employee planning to adopt a child under 18 could qualify to take up to three categories of statutory leave:

ordinary and additional adoption leave
Paternity leave (see Practice Note: Paternity leave and pay)
shared parental leave (see Practice Note: Shared parental leave (Adoption))

That said, a single adopting parent cannot take all three. Subject to circumstances, parents adopting a baby might also qualify for:

statutory parental bereavement leave and pay (see Practice Note: Parental bereavement leave and pay)
statutory neonatal care leave and pay (see Practice Note: Neonatal care leave and pay)

This Practice Note addresses statutory adoption leave under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) and the Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2002 (PAL Regulations 2002), SI 2002/2788. For statutory adoption pay (SAP), see Practice Note: Statutory adoption pay. If both parents are adopting, they must nominate which one will be the ‘adopter’, as defined in the PAL Regulations 2002, SI 2002/2788. Only the adopter is entitled to take adoption leave (see: Entitlement below)...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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