ordinary paternity leave guidelines

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WORKING FOR THE COUNCIL \ LEAVE PROVISIONS
ORDINARY PATERNITY LEAVE GUIDELINES
ORDINARY PATERNITY LEAVE
GUIDELINES
OVERVIEW
Ordinary paternity leave (OPL) is a period of one or two consecutive weeks' leave
that can be taken by fathers or eligible employees to take time off following the birth
or adoption of a child to support the mother, adopter or to care for the child.
This document provides information for employees who wish to take OPL. It
describes rights to time off and paternity pay entitlements and also explains the
notification procedures that employees are required to follow.
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Date issued : xxxxxx 2010
Revision Number : 1
Document type : OPL / Guidelines
Who is eligible for Statutory paternity leave?
To qualify for statutory ordinary paternity leave an employee must:

be the biological father of the child; or married to; or the civil partner of; or
be the partner of; cohabiting same sex partner; the child’s mother / adopter;

have or expect to have responsibility for the child’s upbringing;

be taking time off to either support the mother / adopter or to care for the
child;

have 26 weeks continuous service at the end of the 15 th week before the
week in which the child is expected to be born (or in the case of adoption,
notified of having been matched with a child). Where employees have not
attained the required qualifying service refer to occupational paternity
leave.

have not taken adoption leave / maternity leave
Adoptive parents
Ordinary paternity leave is also available to adoptive parents where a child is
matched or newly placed with them for adoption from the UK or overseas. Either the
adoptive father or the adoptive mother may take ordinary paternity leave where the
other adoptive parent has elected to take adoption leave. The date of placement will
be considered to be equivalent to the date of childbirth. Guidance on adoption leave
can be found here.
Occupational paternity leave and pay
Employees who have worked for the council for less than 26 weeks ending with the
15th week before the child is expected to be born or adopted, do not qualify for
statutory paternity leave or statutory paternity pay, however the council will pay one
weeks ‘occupational paternity leave’ on full pay where the other eligibility criteria is
fulfilled. Employees and managers are still required to follow the same application
process in this instance.
Period of leave
The following rules apply for the period of statutory paternity leave.

Statutory paternity leave is for a maximum of two weeks.

Employees can choose to take either one week or two consecutive weeks.
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
The legislation does not make provision for the employee to take the leave
over a number of non-consecutive days or weeks.

If the employee elects to take only one week’s leave, he or she may not take
a further week’s leave at a later stage.

The length of statutory paternity leave is unaffected by multiple births or if
more than one child is adopted as part of the same placement.

Qualifying employees will be entitled to the relevant leave and pay if the baby
is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy, or if the baby is born alive but dies
later (or in the case of adoption the child dies or is returned to the adoption
agency).
When can Statutory Paternity Leave be taken?
Leave can start on any day of the week on or following the child’s birth or adoption
but must be completed:

Within 8 weeks of the actual date of birth of the child / child’s placement or

If the child is born early, within the period from the actual date of birth up to 8
weeks after the expected week of birth.

Where the baby is born late, the employee must delay the start of the leave
until the baby is actually born.
Qualifying service and pay entitlement
Employees who meet all the qualifying criteria are entitled to two weeks paid
paternity leave paid at the following rates:
Week 1
Week 2
Pay level
Full pay
Statutory Paternity
Pay (SPP)
Pay definition
The amount the employee would have earned
had they worked. Made up of (statutory paternity
pay plus an enhancement by the council to make
up to full pay)
Where this varies, an amount calculated by
reference to the average hourly rate of earnings
will be paid.
As of April 2011 SPP will be £124.88 (2010/11
figure) per week or 90% of average weekly
earnings if this is less than £124.88.
This amount is subject to review each April. Link
to Direct Gov website and SPP levels
Employees who have average weekly earnings
below the lower earnings limit for national
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insurance purposes (£97 a week from April 2010)
do not qualify for SPP. Employees who do not
qualify for SPP, or who are normally low-paid,
may be able to get income support while on
paternity leave. Additional financial support may
be available through housing benefit, council tax
benefit, tax credits or a sure start maternity grant.
Further information is available from your local
jobcentre plus office, www.direct.gov.uk or
www.hmrc.gov.uk/TAXCREDITS
Employees are not obliged to take the second week simply because they have
taken the first week.
Non-cash benefits
During OPL employees are entitled to receive any non cash benefits as detailed in
their terms and conditions of employment.
Pension implications
Pension contributions will continue to be made during any period when the
employee is receiving statutory paternity pay. Employee contributions will be based
on actual pay, while employer contributions will be based on the salary that the
employee would have received had he / she not gone on paternity leave.
Annual leave
Ordinary paternity leave is granted in addition to an employee's normal annual
holiday entitlement.
Annual leave must be taken in the year that it is earned and therefore if their leave
year is due to end during the paternity leave period, this outstanding leave should be
taken as it may not be possible to carry any balances forward into the next leave
year (subject to normal carry over limits). Annual leave policy and guidelines can be
found here.
In addition to accruing annual leave throughout the entirety of their OPL leave,
employees are also entitled to be compensated for each public holiday that falls
during their paternity leave (prorata for part time employees). The number of
compensatory days will be calculated by the employee’s manager and employees
allowed to take any public holiday that falls during their period of paternity leave,
either before or after their paternity leave.
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Requesting Paternity leave
In order to take paternity leave an employees must inform their line manager of their
intention to take statutory paternity leave by the end of the 15th week before the
baby is expected (7 days after notification of a match by the adoption agency) or as
soon as practicable thereafter. A copy of the form can be found in HR Forms on the
LA Portal or by clicking here.
Can the start date be varied?
If, having provided notification of their intention to take OPL on a specified date, an
employee wishes to change, cancel or postpone the start date their they must tell
their manager at least 6 weeks before the new start date or, if that is not possible,
as soon as reasonably practicable Notice of the variation should be given as soon as
possible and should be in writing.
Appeals
Given the factual nature of paternity leave and pay entitlements and the qualifying
criteria, there is no right to appeal against a line manager’s decision that an employee
does not qualify for paternity leave, additional paternity leave and/or pay. However if
an employee considers that they have been denied legitimate access to the
entitlements detailed in this policy, they may use the council’s grievance procedure
which can be found on the in the School HR Manual on the LA portal or by clicking
here.
Records
All correspondence and associated documentary evidence will be held on the
employee’s personnel file.
Monitoring and Review
This policy will be monitored by Human Resources on an on-going basis and will be
reviewed periodically as necessary.
Further Information
Further information on this procedure can be obtained from the HR team in the first
instance.
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ordinary paternity leave guidelines

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