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Policy
The School aims to recruit, retain and motivate the best possible employees and, as part of this objective, wants to support employees to combine work with family commitments. The aim of parental leave is to allow employees the opportunity to take time off to care for a child. Reasons why a member of employee may wish to take unpaid parental leave include wanting to:
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spend more time with his or her young child and achieve a better balance between their work and family commitments
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be with the child during the initial stages of new childcare arrangements
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accompany a child during a planned hospital stay.
Parental leave, which is unpaid, is a legal entitlement for both men and women who are the parents of children aged under five (or under 18 if the child is disabled).
Eligibility
Parental leave can be applied for by an employee who, by the time of the proposed start of the parental leave, has completed a years' continuous service and:
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is a named parent on the birth certificate of a child aged under the age of five (or under 18 if the child is disabled)
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or, has adopted a child (the cut-off point for this is the fifth anniversary of the adoption or whenever the child reaches the age of 18, whichever is the earlier except in the case of a child entitled to disability living allowance)
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or, has formal parental responsibility under the Children Act 1989 or Children (Scotland) Act 1995
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or, is the step-parent of a child aged under the age of five (or under 18 if the child is disabled) and is living with that child.
In the case of multiple births or the adoption of more than one child as part of the same placement, the employee has a statutory right to take unpaid parental leave in respect of each child.
Foster parents are not eligible for parental leave.
Amount of parental leave
The statutory right of employees to parental leave is a maximum of 13 weeks unpaid leave or 18 weeks if the employee is the parent or adoptive parent of a disabled child. The entitlement for parental leave applies for each child. The maximum amount of parental leave that may be taken in any one year in respect of a child is four weeks' parental leave in blocks of not less than one week, except where the child is disabled, in which case it may be taken one day at a time.
The School offers more flexibility, i.e. staff who are eligible for parental leave can request the following:
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one complete block of four weeks ;
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several one-week periods;
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shorter working weeks.
If the dates requested for taking a block of leave would substantially prejudice the School's work, then the leave may be postponed but not indefinitely and not usually for more than three months. The School cannot postpone parental leave requested to immediately follow childbirth or adoption.
Change of employer
An employee's total entitlement to parental leave is limited to 13 weeks (or 18 weeks if the child is disabled) per child, irrespective of whether he or she changes employer. If, for example, an employee has taken four weeks' parental leave (out of a total entitlement of 13 weeks) during his or her current employment, the employee will have nine weeks' parental leave outstanding on moving to new employment. The employee will, however, have to work for a full year with the new employer before becoming eligible to take any of his or her entitlement.
Documentary evidence of eligibility
A line manager may, at his or her discretion, request documentary evidence from an employee to support a request for parental leave. This might take the form of:
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sight of the child's birth certificate, in order to ascertain that the child is under five years old
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sight of a certificate of adoption
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where the employee is exercising a right in relation to a disabled child, evidence of the child's entitlement to Disability Living Allowance
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a signed declaration from the employee that the purpose of the requested period of leave is to care for the child.
A line manager may also wish to check whether an employee requesting parental leave has previously taken any periods of parental leave while working for a previous employer and, if so, how many weeks' leave were taken. Line managers should note, however, that there is no legal duty on employers to provide this information.
Notification requirements
The statutory requirements are that employees must give at least 21 days' notice of the period of parental leave that they wish to take and the notice must specify the dates on which the period of parental leave is to begin and end. Additionally, the School requests that the notice be in writing.
A father who wishes to take a period of parental leave beginning when their child is born, must give notice at least 21 days before the expected week of childbirth, and must specify the expected week of childbirth and the duration of the period of parental leave requested. Additionally, the School requests that notice of the intention to take parental leave should be given together with notice of the intention to take paid paternity leave.
Similarly, where parental leave is requested to begin on an adopted child's placement, the employee's notice must be given at least 21 days before the beginning of the week in which the child is to be placed for adoption, or as soon as is reasonably practicable thereafter. The notice must specify the week in which the adoption placement is expected to occur and the duration of the period of parental leave requested.
In case where it is not possible to give notice of 21 days, e.g. if the child is born prematurely or where less than 21 days' notice is given that a child is to be placed with the employee for adoption, then the employee should give notice as soon as possible.
Where a person's manager is not agreeable to allow him or her to take parental leave at the time or times notified, the parties shall attempt to reach agreement on an alternative time or times when leave will be taken. Where they are unable to agree, and the employee is an academic member of staff, the matter shall be referred to the Vice-Chairman of the Academic Board for a decision within ten working days.
It is the responsibility of the person and the manager to keep a record of any leave requested, agreed and taken. A copy of the record should be sent to HR Services so that staff receive the correct salary payments and there is proper management information so that future requests for parental leave can be properly managed and administered. A proper record will enable the employer to show, if necessary, that it has granted employees the full periods of parental leave to which they are entitled. Clear records will also enable employers to cooperate with other employers in providing information, on request, about how much parental leave an ex-employee has already taken, although there is no legal duty to provide such information
Return to work
There is no statutory requirement for employees to give any specific notice of their return from parental leave, as the return date will have been agreed at the outset. Therefore, the member of staff should simply turn up for work in the usual way on the appropriate date.
Return to work to the same job is guaranteed if the leave is for a period of four weeks or less. If the leave is for a longer period, and it is not reasonably practicable to go back to the same job, then the return may be to a similar, alternative job with the same or better status, terms and conditions that is both suitable and appropriate. This means that seniority, pension rights and other similar benefits must be the same as they would have been if the employee had worked normally during the period when he or she took parental leave. Similarly, if parental leave of any length is taken immediately after additional maternity leave, additional adoption leave or additional paternity leave, the employee is entitled to return to the same job or, if that is not reasonably practicable, another job that is suitable and appropriate for the employee to do in the circumstances .
Application of terms and conditions during leave
The School is entitled from the employee of the usual application of terms and conditions about notice of termination, disclosure of confidential information, receipt of gifts or benefits, and participation in any other business. The employee can expect the School to meet its obligation of trust and confidence, and terms and conditions about notice of termination, redundancy compensation, and disciplinary and grievance procedures.
Annual leave
An employee continues to accrue their statutory paid holiday entitlement during parental leave, but not their contractual paid holiday entitlement. HR Services can give advice on how to calculate leave.
Pension contributions
Employees who wish to maintain the full level of pension contributions should advise the Superannuation Officer as soon in advance of the leave period as possible. In such circumstances, the School shall also make pension contributions.
Other types of leave
Paternity leave|
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