1. Introduction
1.1 Paternity leave is partially a statutory entitlement and partially a local agreement that allows an eligible employee to take up to two weeks’ paid leave to care for a new baby or adoptive child and to support the child’s mother. Eligible employees may also be entitled to Additional Paternity Leave.
1.2 Applications for paternity leave must be made on the ‘Paternity Form’ available from Hounslow’s website for schools.
2. Entitlement
Ordinary and Occupational Paternity Leave
2.1 Under the School’s Paternity Leave arrangements, all employees, whose partners have recently given birth to or adopted a child, are entitled to 2 weeks’ ordinary paternity leave (OPL).
2.2 To be eligible to take ordinary paternity leave an employee must:-
· Either be the child’s father or be the spouse, partner* or civil partner (male or female) of the child’s mother or be the partner of an individual who is adopting a child, or be a member of a couple adopting jointly where the other member has elected to take adoption leave; and
· Have, or be expected to have, the main responsibility for the child’s upbringing (apart from any responsibility of the mother); and
· Have submitted the ‘Paternity Leave Form’ in order to provide formal notification of the date on which they intend to take paternity leave.
Note: * “Partner” in relation to a child’s mother, means a person (whether of the same of the opposite sex) who lives with the mother and the child in an enduring family relationship, but is not the mother’s father, grandfather, grandmother, sister, brother, aunt or uncle.
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Ordinary and Occupational Paternity Pay
2.3 For the first week of OPL, all employees, regardless of length of service, will receive Occupational Paternity Pay. This is an amount equal to the employee’s normal salary and is paid instead of normal salary.
2.4 Employees who wish to take a second week of OPL may or may not be entitled to further payment depending on their length of service, as set out below:
a. Employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service with Hounslow Council either at the end of the 15th week before their baby is expected to be born or by the end of the week in which they are notified by their adoption agency that they have been matched with a child, will receive Statutory Paternity Pay for the second week. Further information on Statutory Paternity Pay can be found on the DirectGov website at: www.directgov.uk .
b. Employees with less than 26 weeks’ continuous service with Hounslow Council either at the end of the 15th week before their baby is expected to be born or by the end of the week in which they are notified by their adoption agency that they have been matched with a child, are not entitled to receive payment for the second week of paternity leave. Instead the week must be taken as unpaid leave.
Additional Paternity Leave
2.5 Eligible employees (see paragraph 2.7) are entitled to take Additional Paternity Leave (APL) of between 2 and 26 weeks. Leave must be taken in multiples of a week (a minimum of 2 weeks) and must be taken as one continuous period. These weeks cannot be split and the leave cannot be taken as odd days.
2.6 The amount of APL that an employee is entitled to is equal to the portion of maternity leave which the mother / partner / co-adopter has not used, to a maximum of 26 weeks.
2.7 In addition to the eligibility criteria for entitlement to ordinary paternity leave (see Para 2.2), an employee must also satisfy the following criteria for to be eligible for APL. The employee must:
a. Have 26 weeks’ continuous service with Hounslow Council either at the end of the 15th week before their baby is expected to be born or by the end of the week in which they are notified by their adoption agency that they have been matched with a child; and
b. Continue to be employed by the Council until the week before APL starts.
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c. Be taking the leave to care for the child and/or support the child’s mother or primary adopter in caring for the child
d. Confirm that the mother of the child is entitled to one or more of maternity leave, statutory maternity pay, maternity allowance, statutory adoption leave, statutory adoption pay, and has returned to work.
2.8 The mother / co-adopter will be regarded as having returned to work (in paragraph 2.7c), by actually working for their employer even if this is for a very short time. If the mother / co-adopter is still in her statutory maternity pay period and takes parental leave, annual leave, sick leave directly following Maternity Leave, she will not be regarded as having resumed work and her partner will not be entitled to commence APL.
Additional Paternity Pay
2.9 Employees who qualify for Additional Paternity Leave may be entitled to Additional Paternity Pay. Where the mother / partner / co-adopter has not taken their full 39 week paid entitlement to statutory maternity / adoption pay, the employee will be entitled to be paid for the unused portion.
2.10 For any weeks in which an employee is entitled to receive additional paternity pay, this will be paid at the rate of statutory paternity pay. Further information on the rate of SPP is available on the DirectGov website at: www.directgov.uk for further information.
2.11 Any APL taken beyond the mother / co-adopter’s 39 week SMP period will be unpaid.
3. Timing of paternity leave
General
3.1 Paternity leave can start on any day of the week.
3.2 Paternity leave must be taken in multiples of a week and must be taken as one continuous period. These weeks cannot be split and the leave cannot be taken as odd days.
3.3 Only one period of paternity leave can be taken irrespective of whether more than one child is born as the result of the same pregnancy or is adopted at the same time.
3.4 An employee may change the date on which they intend to start their paternity leave provided they inform their Headteacher of the amended start date at least 28 days before the original date or as soon as is reasonably practicable.
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3.5 With the agreement of their Headteacher an employee can take a period of annual leave (where applicable) or parental leave (providing they are eligible to do so) immediately before or after taking paternity leave.
3.6 Teachers do not have a contractual entitlement to annual leave but they are entitled to 28 days statutory holiday under the Working Time (Amendments) Regulations 2007. The entitlement to statutory holiday is not an additional entitlement on top of the current school closure arrangements. Any holiday accrued during a period of paternity leave must be offset by any period of school closure that has taken place in the leave year in question both before and after the period of absence. There will be sufficient school closures to offset any periods of accrued holiday from one year to the next as there are more periods of school closures to the number of statutory holidays, hence removing the need for any adjustment to salary.
Ordinary Paternity Leave
3.7 OPL must be taken between the child’s date of birth / adoption and 56 days after the birth / adoption.
Additional Paternity Leave
3.8 APL can begin any time from 20 weeks after the child’s date of birth / date on which the child starts living with the adopter until 12 months’ from the date of birth / adoption.
3.9 APL does not need to be taken immediately after the mother’s maternity / adoption leave ends, but must be taken before the child’s first birthday.
4. Notice Requirements
Ordinary Paternity Leave
4.1 An employee must provide their Headteacher with notice of their intention to take ordinary paternity leave no later than the end of the 15th week before the week in which the child is expected to be born. An employee should give notice by submitting a completed ‘Paternity Leave Form’.
4.2 The employee must inform their Headteacher of the date on which the child is actually born / placed for adoption as soon as is reasonably practicable afterwards.
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Additional Paternity Leave
4.3 Employees who wish to take APL must provide their Headteacher with notice at least 8 weeks before the APL is due to start. The notice requirements cover details of the child’s date of birth, dates of paternity leave, and declarations from both the employee and the mother. These requirements are set out on the Paternity Leave Form, on Hounslow’s website for Schools.
4.4 Headteacher's are also entitled to request that the employee provides a copy of the child’s birth certificate and the name and address of the mother’s employer or, in the case of adoption, of the document from the adoption agency showing the name and address of the agency, the date the adopter was notified of the matching and the expected date of the placement.
Employer’s Response to Notice
4.5 The Headteacher must, within 28 days of receipt of the notice, confirm the relevant dates of APL in writing.
Variation / Cancellation of APL
4.6: Where the employee’s circumstances change the employee should give the employer a ‘withdrawal notice’ as soon as is reasonably practicable. This should set out the change and any alternative arrangement that is being requested. The employer should confirm any new details in writing.
5: Death of the mother
5.1 Although APL is conditional on the mother returning to work (see paragraph 2.7(d), the statute provides that it can still be taken where the child’s mother has died. In these circumstances, APL can be taken provided the mother would have been entitled to maternity leave, statutory maternity pay, maternity allowance, statutory adoption leave or statutory adoption pay.
5.2 APL can be taken at any time from the mother’s death up to 12 months from the child’s birth. The minimum period of leave that can be taken is 2 weeks and the maximum is 52 weeks.
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6. Keeping in Touch Days (KIT) days
6.1 An employee on statutory paternity leave is able to work for up to 10 days during their leave without losing any statutory paternity pay and without bringing their leave to an end. For record keeping purposes working for part of a day will count as one day. Work is defined as any work done under the contract of employment and may include training or any activity undertaken for the purposes of keeping in touch with the
School.
6.2 Such days could include staff or team meetings, occasional days of work etc. and should, where possible, be agreed in advance by the Headteacher and employee before the employee goes on leave.
6.3 An employee will be paid for the hours actually worked on a KIT day, even though, for record keeping purposes, any part of a day worked will count as one day.
6.4 KIT days are not compulsory.
6.5 KIT days are paid at the employee’s basic contractual pay rate, at a rate of 1/365 x annual salary, less any Statutory Paternity Pay or an employee may be able to take the time as TOIL.
Reasonable Contact
6.6 In addition to the provision for “Keeping in Touch” (KIT) days there may be “reasonable contact” between the line manager and employee during the employee’s leave. This contact does not count as work.
6.7 Such contact could include receiving team briefings, newsletters, information on school or organisational changes, information on job vacancies and training opportunities, phone calls etc.
6.8 The level of contact and how it takes place should be agreed by the Headteacher and the employee before the employee takes their leave.
6.9 In some instances, changing circumstances in the school could mean additional contact may be necessary to ensure that adequate involvement and consultation on key issues is assured.
7. Pension
7.1 An employee’s contract of employment continues throughout their paternity leave and pension contributions continue to be deducted from paternity payments.
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7.2 An employee who is intending to take a period of unpaid additional leave should consult Teacher’s Pensions, 0845 6066166 or Capita Hartshead, for non-teaching staff, the Council’s pension provider, for advice about the possible effects on their pension www.hounslow.gov.uk/pension or 01737 366032.
7.3 Further advice on pensions, including arrangements for any unpaid paternity leave, should be obtained from the HR Payroll Team.
8. Effect on Annual Leave
8.1 An employee entitled to contractual leave, continues to accrue this leave throughout both ordinary and additional paternity leave. Leave should normally be taken within an employee’s personal leave year and in accordance with the school’s annual leave guidance. An employee should discuss when their leave can be taken with their Headteacher before they go on paternity leave.
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Paternity Leave For Schools Staff (May 2012)