Adoption Leave and Statutory Adoption Pay

If you are adopting a child, adoption leave gives you up to 52 weeks off work, and Statutory Adoption Pay covers up to 39 weeks of it. The first six weeks are paid at 90% of your normal weekly pay before deductions. For the remaining 33 weeks the rate is £194.32 a week, or 90% of your average weekly earnings if that is less¹.

To qualify you need to have worked for your employer continuously for at least 26 weeks by the week you are matched with a child by an adoption agency, and to earn an average of at least £123 a week before tax³. Where a couple adopts, only one parent can take adoption leave and claim Statutory Adoption Pay. The other parent may be able to take paternity leave and pay for adoption, or take over what is left of the adopter's leave through shared parental leave⁴.

This page sets out what each type of leave and pay is worth, who qualifies, how to claim it from your employer, and how the pay interacts with tax, Universal Credit and other benefits.

Adoption leave: up to 52 weeks off work

Adoption leave lasts for 52 weeks¹. Statutory Adoption Leave allows you to take up to 52 weeks off work when you adopt a child². The leave is made up of ordinary adoption leave followed immediately by additional adoption leave, and the two together give the full year.

The leave is available to the person the adoption agency matches with the child. Where a couple adopts, only one parent in a couple can take Statutory Adoption Leave and Pay². The other parent is not left without options: partners, including same-sex partners and civil partners, may be entitled to up to two weeks of paternity leave and statutory paternity pay, taken as separate weeks or together, at any time up to a year from the adoption⁴.

Paternity leave for adoption runs from the date of the child's placement, but must be completed within 56 days of the date of placement⁷. That is a tighter window than the adopter's own leave, and it is the deadline most often missed.

There is a separate right to shared parental leave and pay, which lets the couple share the leave between them. To use it, either you or your partner must qualify for Statutory Adoption Pay, and one of you must have qualified for statutory adoption leave or statutory adoption pay for the child⁸. The partner may be able to take the remainder of the adopter's unused leave if the adopter returns to work, paid at the remainder of the statutory pay the adopter would have been entitled to⁴.

Statutory Adoption Pay: 90% for six weeks, then up to £194.32 a week

Statutory Adoption Pay is paid in two stages. During the first six weeks, you get 90% of your normal weekly pay before deductions¹. For the next 33 weeks, you get £194.32 a week, or 90% of your average weekly earnings if that is less¹. The £194.32 figure is the statutory rate set for April 2026 to April 2027³.

The pay can be paid for up to a maximum of 39 weeks⁵. That is shorter than the 52 weeks of leave, so the final 13 weeks of adoption leave are normally unpaid unless your employer offers more under its own scheme.

One point of confusion is worth clearing up. Some guidance still quotes £184.03 a week for the later weeks of Statutory Adoption Pay⁹. That was the rate in an earlier year. The current rate, and the one that applies to adoptions in the 2026 to 2027 year, is £194.32¹. If you are checking what you will be paid, use the current figure.

The same £194.32 rate applies to Statutory Paternity Pay, paid for one or two consecutive weeks at £194.32 or 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings if this is less⁷. So a partner taking paternity leave for adoption is on the same flat rate as the adopter's later weeks.

Who qualifies: 26 weeks with your employer and earnings of at least £123 a week

Two conditions decide whether Statutory Adoption Pay is payable. The first is service: you must have worked for your employer continuously for at least 26 weeks by the week you are matched with a child for adoption by an adoption agency³. The second is earnings: you must earn an average of at least £123 a week before tax³.

The £123 figure is the threshold for April 2026 to April 2027, measured on average over the eight weeks before the matching week if you are paid weekly, or the two months before it if you are paid monthly¹. The matching week is the week in which you are notified about being matched with a child for adoption purposes¹⁰.

The same shape of test applies across the family of statutory payments. Statutory Paternity Pay requires 26 weeks of continuous employment into the fifteenth week before the expected week of childbirth, or into the matching week for adoption, with average earnings at least equal to the lower earnings limit for National Insurance contributions⁵. Statutory Maternity Pay uses 26 weeks by the fifteenth week before the baby is due and earnings above £123 a week before tax¹¹.

If you do not qualify for Statutory Adoption Pay, that is not necessarily the end of the matter. Your employer should still pay you Statutory Maternity, Paternity or Adoption pay if you are eligible, even where you are not entitled to anything under the firm's own scheme¹². Occupational schemes sit on top of the statutory minimum rather than replacing it.

Only one adopter can claim, but a partner may take what is left

Where a couple adopts a child, only one parent is entitled to take adoption leave and claim Statutory Adoption Pay⁴. That rule applies to same-sex couples as well as different-sex couples⁴. It does not mean the second parent has no rights; it means the couple has to decide which of them takes the adoption leave, and the other uses a different route.

The main routes for the second parent are:

• Paternity leave and pay for adoption: up to two weeks, taken as separate weeks or together, at any time up to a year from the adoption⁴.
• Shared parental leave and pay: available where either you or your partner qualifies for Statutory Adoption Pay, and one of you qualified for statutory adoption leave or pay for the child⁸.
• Taking over unused leave: if the adopter does not use up all their adoption leave and goes back to work, the partner may be able to take the remainder, paid at the remainder of the statutory pay the adopter would have been entitled to⁴.

Shared parental pay has its own limits. The number of weeks payable is 39 weeks less the weeks of Statutory Adoption Pay payable and the weeks notified by the other partner¹³. There is also a cap on working during a statutory pay week: work on any day under a contract of service during a statutory pay week must not exceed 20 days including previous days so worked¹³.

The "only one" pattern recurs across family payments. Only one member of a couple can receive the LCWRA element in Universal Credit, with the other getting the Carer element instead¹⁴. Only one of two people caring for the same person can get Carer's Allowance or Carer Support Payment¹⁵. It is a common design in the benefits system, not a penalty aimed at adopters.

How to claim Statutory Adoption Pay from your employer

The claim runs through your employer's payroll. Your employer pays Statutory Adoption Pay through PAYE and claims it back from HMRC³. You will need to provide evidence, such as a letter from the adoption agency or a matching certificate³.

The steps are:

1. Tell your employer you are adopting and when you want your pay to start, giving at least 28 days' notice⁶.
2. Give your employer the evidence of the match or placement, such as the letter from the adoption agency or the matching certificate³.
3. Your employer writes to you within 28 days of receiving your notice, stating the date on which your additional adoption leave will end³.
4. Your employer pays Statutory Adoption Pay to you in the same way and at the same time as your normal wages¹⁶.

If you are claiming paternity pay for adoption rather than adoption pay, the process is similar but the form differs: you can complete an online form, download it and send a copy to your employer¹⁷. Statutory Maternity, Paternity or Adoption Pay can also be applied for on the HMRC website¹⁸.

If something goes wrong, there is a route to challenge it. If you disagree with a Statutory Adoption Pay decision made by your employer, you can contact HM Revenue and Customs Statutory Payments Disputes Team¹⁹. If your employer refuses to pay or has gone into liquidation, you can claim any unpaid Statutory Adoption Pay from the HMRC Statutory Payment Disputes Team on 0300 322 9422; HMRC can make a formal decision and fine employers for failure to pay³. For paternity pay, if you cannot get it, your employer must complete and give you form SPP1 telling you why it has not been paid⁷.

When can Statutory Adoption Pay start?

Statutory Adoption Pay can start from the date of the child's placement or up to 14 days before the expected date of the placement⁶. You must give your employer at least 28 days' notice of when you want to start getting it⁶.

The flexibility is narrower than it looks. You cannot choose an arbitrary start date; it has to sit within that window around the placement. If you want pay to begin before the placement, the earliest point is 14 days ahead of the expected date.

For the partner taking paternity leave for adoption, the timing rules are different. That leave runs from the date of the child's placement, but must be completed within 56 days of the date of placement⁷. The two week entitlement can be taken as separate weeks or together, at any time up to a year from the adoption⁴, but the 56 day completion rule for the placement period is the one that catches people out.

Tax, Universal Credit and other benefits

Statutory Adoption Pay is taxable. You will pay tax and National Insurance on your Statutory Adoption Pay². It is treated as normal pay, so tax and National Insurance are taken off in the usual way⁷. It is charged to tax under the normal rules rather than being treated as a taxable social security benefit²⁰.

For Universal Credit, Statutory Adoption Pay counts as earnings. The statutory payments counted as earnings include Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay, Statutory Shared Parental Pay, Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay and Statutory Sick Pay²¹. You must report these in the assessment period in which you received them, unless Universal Credit has told you that your employer reports through the Real Time Information system²².

Statutory Adoption Pay is not included in the benefit cap, which limits the total amount in some benefits that working-age people can receive¹⁶. It does, however, count in full as earnings when calculating your entitlement to other means-tested benefits¹⁶. So it can reduce a means-tested award even though it sits outside the cap.

The treatment differs by benefit:

Universal Credit's unearned income rules do not capture statutory payments: unearned income does not include statutory payments like Statutory Sick Pay or Statutory Maternity Pay²⁴. Statutory Adoption Pay is also excluded from Statutory Sick Pay, so the two cannot be claimed for the same period²⁵.

The rules have been extended in recent years to cover more family situations. Statutory neonatal care pay is defined as a payment under Part 12ZE of the Contributions and Benefits Act and has been added to the work condition and to employed earnings in the Universal Credit Regulations²⁶. It is available to a child's adopter, overseas adopter, prospective adopter, the partner of the adopter or prospective adopter, or the partner of the overseas adopter²⁷. If your child needs neonatal care after placement, that is a separate entitlement worth checking.

Where to get help

If you are unsure whether you qualify, or your employer disputes your entitlement, free and impartial help is available. The HMRC Statutory Payments Disputes Team handles disagreements with an employer's decision and unpaid pay where an employer refuses or has gone into liquidation³. For benefit calculations, the Turn2us and Entitledto benefit calculators let you model how Statutory Adoption Pay affects Universal Credit and other awards¹⁶.

For broader advice on your rights at work during an adoption, Maternity Action publishes guidance on adoption leave and pay rights for parents³, and Gingerbread covers time off when a new baby arrives⁹. If you are also considering how adoption leave fits with your pension and long-term planning, the pensions guide sets out how contributions and State Pension credits work during periods away from work.