Your leave and pay
Work out Statutory Adoption Pay and plan the year of leave after a placement: who’s off when, what each week pays, and what sharing it with the other parent costs or saves.
Statutory pay rates current for 2026/27, last checked against GOV.UK.
Results update as you type
Your results
Who qualifies?
- YesStatutory Adoption Pay: 26 weeks with their employer by the matching week and average pay of £673.08 a week, at least £129. That’s £605.77 a week for 6 weeks, then £194.32 for 33.
- YesShared Parental Leave for the other parent: 26 weeks with their employer by the matching week, and the main adopter meets the work and earnings test.
- YesShared Parental Pay: the other parent’s average pay of £865.38 a week is at least £129.
Paternity leave is shown in the 2 weeks after placement. From April 2026 it can also be taken after Shared Parental Leave, within the year.
Week by week
The two rows show who’s off each week; the bars under them are the pay together, against the dashed line of normal pay.
Three ways to take 39 weeks
| Who takes the leave | Main adopter off | Other parent off | Pay together, first year |
|---|---|---|---|
| The main adopter takes all 39 weeks | 39 weeks | 0 weeks + 2 paternity | £62,455 |
| Your plan | 26 weeks | 13 weeks + 2 paternity | £59,955£2,500 less |
| About half each, one after the other | 20 weeks | 19 weeks + 2 paternity | £58,801£3,654 less |
The same 39 weeks of leave in all, with the pay together before tax over the 52 weeks from placement. Sharing costs most when the other parent earns more, or when it uses weeks the main adopter would have been paid at 90%.
Key dates
Worked out from the matching and placement dates. If placement moves, the weeks move with it, but the dates for the matching week don’t.
- 6 June 2026The latest either parent could have started with their employer to have 26 weeks by the matching week.
- Sunday 22 November to Saturday 28 November 2026The matching week. Each parent needs 26 weeks with their employer by the end of it for adoption, paternity and Shared Parental Pay.
- 2 December 2026Within 7 days of being matched: the main adopter tells their employer the placement date and when adoption leave and pay will start. The other parent claims paternity leave by the same day.
- 16 December 2026The earliest adoption leave and pay can start: 14 days before placement.
- 30 December 2026The child is placed with you. This plan counts its weeks from here.
- 5 May 2027Both parents give notice: the main adopter, to end their adoption leave early; the other parent, of their entitlement and the dates they’ll take. At least 8 weeks before their leave starts.
- 30 June 2027 to 28 September 2027The other parent’s Shared Parental Leave, paid for 13 weeks.
- 30 June 2027The main adopter goes back to work after 26 weeks. Changing the return date takes 8 weeks’ notice.
- 29 December 2027The last day Shared Parental Leave can be taken: the day before the first anniversary of placement.
Using this calculator
Enter the matching and placement dates, both parents’ pay, how many weeks each will take, and when the other parent’s leave starts. The calculator shows Statutory Adoption Pay week by week, who’s at home, and the pay together over the first year after placement, set against the main adopter taking all the leave and against half each.
- Statutory Adoption Pay is paid like maternity pay: 6 weeks at 90% of average pay, then £194.32 a week, or 90% if that’s less, to week 39. Adoption leave runs for up to 52 weeks.
- The main adopter can end their leave early, after at least 2 weeks, and the weeks they don’t take become Shared Parental Leave: up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 of pay between you, by the first anniversary of placement.
- Pay here is before tax and National Insurance. The plan counts weeks from placement, and leaves out leave taken in the 14 days before it, keeping in touch days, and overseas adoptions and surrogacy, which have their own dates.
For how adoption leave and sharing work, with an example, read adoption pay and leave explained.
Where the figures come from
Every rate and rule checked against GOV.UK and the legislation in October 2026.
- GOV.UK: Adoption pay and leave: 52 weeks of leave from up to 14 days before placement; pay for 39 weeks; who’s eligible, with 26 weeks by the matching week; and how to claim, within 7 days of being matched and 28 days before the pay starts.
- GOV.UK: Shared Parental Leave for adopters: 50 weeks of leave and 37 of pay to share by the first anniversary of placement; and the employers’ technical guide: 2 weeks of adoption leave before ending it early, and 8 weeks’ notice.
- Shared Parental Leave Regulations 2014, regulation 36: the work and earnings test, in the 66 weeks before the matching week.
- GOV.UK: Paternity pay and leave when adopting: 2 weeks, a right from the first day in a job, with pay after 26 weeks by the matching week.
- HMRC: rates and thresholds for 2026/27: Statutory Adoption, Paternity and Shared Parental Pay of £194.32 a week, and the £129 Lower Earnings Limit.