Adoption pay and leave: and sharing the year

How it works

A couple adopting together choose one of you to be the main adopter, the one who takes adoption leave and pay. The rules are the same for any couple, two dads or two mums included.

• Adoption leave lasts up to 52 weeks. It's a right from the first day in a job, and can start on the day the child is placed with you or up to 14 days before.
• Statutory Adoption Pay is paid like maternity pay: 6 weeks at 90% of average weekly earnings, then £194.32 a week, or 90% if that's less, for 33 weeks. The last 13 weeks of leave are unpaid unless your employer pays.
• The other parent can take 2 weeks' paternity leave within a year of placement. For a child placed from 6 April 2026 the leave is a right from the first day in a job. Statutory Paternity Pay is £194.32 a week, or 90% of average earnings if that's less, and needs 26 weeks with the employer by the matching week and average earnings of at least £129 a week.

The main adopter must take at least 2 weeks of adoption leave. After that, they can end it early, and the weeks they don't take become Shared Parental Leave: up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay between you, until the day before the first anniversary of placement. Shared Parental Pay is the same £194.32 a week, or 90% of earnings if that's less, with no weeks at 90% of full pay.

Who qualifies

The dates run from the matching week, the week the adoption agency tells you you've been matched with the child, rather than from a due date. For Statutory Adoption Pay, the main adopter needs:

• at least 26 weeks with their employer by the end of the matching week, and
• average earnings of at least £129 a week.

Without them, adoption leave is still theirs, but unpaid. To share, the parent taking Shared Parental Leave also needs 26 weeks with their employer by the matching week. The other parent must have worked in at least 26 of the 66 weeks before the matching week and earned £390 in 13 of them. Shared Parental Pay is only there to share if the main adopter gets Statutory Adoption Pay.

Worked example

Daniel and Tom are adopting. Daniel earns £40,000 (£769.23 a week) and is the main adopter; Tom earns £38,000 (£730.77 a week). Daniel's Statutory Adoption Pay would be £692.31 a week for 6 weeks, then £194.32 for 33: £10,566 over 39 weeks. They plan for 39 weeks off in all, with Tom taking 2 weeks' paternity leave after placement as well. Their pay together before tax over the first year after placement:

Daniel keeps the 6 weeks at 90%, which pay far more than the flat rate. After that, whoever is off gets £194.32 a week, so the family loses less when the lower earner is at home: each week Tom takes instead of Daniel gives up £38.46 less pay.

If Tom earned more than Daniel, it would turn the other way: sharing would cost them money, as it does for many couples after a birth.

Work out your own adoption pay and leave →

Dates and notice

• Within 7 days of being matched, the main adopter tells their employer the placement date and when they want adoption leave to start. The other parent claims paternity leave by the same day.
• At least 28 days before Statutory Adoption Pay starts, the main adopter tells their employer when they want it to start.
• At least 8 weeks before any Shared Parental Leave, the main adopter gives notice to end their adoption leave early, and both of you give a notice of entitlement and book the weeks. You can book up to 3 blocks each.

Adopting from overseas or through a surrogate has its own dates. Overseas, leave runs from when the child arrives in the UK. With a surrogate, the 26 weeks are counted to the 15th week before the baby is due, and leave starts on the day of the birth or the day after.