Paternity Policy (amended May 2011) 1. Purpose The purpose of the Policy is to set out the existing provision for Ordinary Paternity Leave and Additional Paternity Leave for staff who become parents on or after 3 April 2011. The leave is to enable staff to provide care after the birth or adoption of a child. 2. Eligibility Paternity leave is granted to members of staff whose relationship with the mother of the child is one of the following: They are the baby s biological father or They are married to or in a civil partnership with the mother or They are the mother s partner. o (A partner is someone who lives with the mother of the baby in an enduring family relationship but is not an immediate relative. This also includes a female partner in a same sex couple). In addition they must have responsibility for the child s upbringing and be taking time off work to support the mother and/or care for the child. Depending on eligibility members of staff can apply for both Ordinary and Additional Paternity Leave. More specific detail related to Paternity Leave for Adoption is contained in a separate document. 3. Ordinary Paternity Leave Length of and Payment for Ordinary Paternity Leave (OPL) Provision of OPL leave and payment of leave will be on the following basis: University OPL and Pay If you have continuous service of 1 year or more (as at the 15th week before the baby is due) you are entitled to receive 2 weeks OPL; the first week will be paid based on full salary and the second week will be paid at the rate of Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP), or 90% of their average weekly earnings if this is less. Statutory OPL and Pay If you do not have 1 years service - as outlined above - but have been continuously employed with the University for at least 26 weeks (as at the 15th week before the baby is Page 1 of 7
due), you are entitled to 2 weeks OPL and will be paid at the rate of Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP), or 90% of their average weekly earnings if this is less. Please see the following link for the current SPP rate: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/parents/moneyandworkentitlements/workandfamilies/pater nityrightsintheworkplace/dg_10029398 Notification of intention to take OPL To request OPL you should consult your line manager at the earliest opportunity giving dates when the leave is expected to be taken. This must be no later than 15 weeks before the baby is due. An Ordinary Paternity Leave Request Form will also need to be completed and submitted to Human Resources, again no later than 15 weeks before the baby is due. When can OPL be taken? OPL cannot start until the birth of the baby. It can start on any day of the week and must be taken within the first 8 weeks of the child s birth. It must be taken in whole weeks which must run consecutively and cannot be taken as odd days or as two separate weeks. Requests for further leave should be considered under the Additional Paternity Leave (see below) or the Parental Leave policy (which is on an unpaid basis). Can an employee change their mind about when they take OPL? The University appreciates that babies do not always arrive when they are expected. If changes need to be made to the leave dates their manager and Human Resources must be informed at the earliest opportunity. Is there an entitlement to take time off to attend antenatal appointments? There is no specific provision for this but the University recognises that you may wish to attend these appointments. In these circumstances you should discuss the options with your manager and may use annual leave for this purpose. What happens if the mother miscarries or the baby is stillborn? In the sad circumstances of the pregnancy ending in stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy (defined as stillbirth) staff will still be entitled to OPL as outlined above. 4. Additional Paternity Leave This statutory provision is to allow parents to share a longer period of leave to care for their child. Parents of children due on or after 3 April 2011 may be eligible to take up to 26 weeks Additional Paternity Leave within the first year of the child s life. This is provided that the mother has returned to work before using her full entitlement to maternity leave. Specific arrangements for Additional Paternity leave for Adoption are described in a separate document. Page 2 of 7
Eligibility for Additional Paternity Leave (APL) To qualify for APL you must have 26 weeks continuous service with the University ending with the 15 th week before the baby is due. The child s mother must also: Be entitled to statutory maternity leave, statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance, and Return to work with at least 2 weeks of unexpired statutory maternity leave remaining Return to work means the mother has resumed working. A period of annual, sick or parental leave directly after the maternity leave, but during the mother s statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance period, is not a return to work. However, once the mother has returned to work any subsequent period of such leave does not affect entitlement to APL or pay. When and for how long can APL be taken? If you are eligible you can take up to 26 weeks (up to 19 weeks paid) leave to care for your new child. Leave can be taken any time from 20 weeks after the child is born but must have finished by the child s first birthday. The leave must be taken as a continuous period of leave which must be at least 2 weeks up to a maximum of 26 weeks. To start your leave and pay, the mother must bring her maternity leave or adoption leave to an end by giving notice to return early. She must also bring her SMP or Maternity Allowance to an end by actually going back to work for the employer. Additional Paternity Pay During Additional Paternity Leave you may receive additional statutory paternity pay in place of unused Statutory Maternity Pay by the mother. Additional Paternity Pay will be payable only during the period that the mother would have received statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance had she not returned to work. You will be paid at the rate of Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP), or 90% of average weekly earnings if this is less. The remaining period of Additional Paternity Leave is unpaid. Please see the following link for the current SPP rate: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/parents/moneyandworkentitlements/workandfamilies/pater nityrightsintheworkplace/dg_190788 To qualify for additional statutory paternity pay you must also have average weekly earnings for the eight week period ending with the relevant week of not less than the lower earnings limit for national insurance contributions. Page 3 of 7
Notification of Intention to take APL In order to qualify for Additional Paternity Leave you must notify your line manager, giving at least 8 weeks notice, using the Additional Paternity Leave Request Form and the form SC7 from HM Revenue and Customs, which will include: The expected date of the baby s birth The actual date of the baby s birth The start date and end date for the Additional Paternity Pay End date for the Additional Paternity Leave The relationship to the mother That the leave is taken to care for the child There will also be a section for the mother to complete to declare: That they have given notice of their return to work That they are entitled to statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance That you: o Are the baby s biological father or husband, or partner or civil partner o Will have responsibility for the child s upbringing o Will take time off work to care for the child and o Is to her knowledge the sole applicant for additional paternity pay and leave in respect of this child Can an employee change their mind about when they take APL? The University appreciates that babies do not always arrive when they are expected. If changes need to be made to the leave dates your manager and Human Resources must be informed at the earliest opportunity. If possible, you should give your line manager six weeks written notice. Contact during leave and Keeping in touch days During your Additional Paternity Leave there may be occasions when it would be beneficial for your manager to make reasonable contact with you. There is also an option of Keeping in Touch Days where you would come to work for up to 10 days without bringing paternity leave to an end or losing Statutory Additional Paternity Pay. This is to enable you to keep in touch and keep up to date with developments at work and may include carrying out agreed work, attending training or meetings. You are not obliged to take up the option of Keeping in touch days and your manager is not obliged to offer them. You and your manager will agree how many hours you will work and you will receive full pay for these hours when you return to work. Payment will be made on the Keeping in Touch Form available on the HR website. Page 4 of 7
Annual leave entitlement, Bank Holidays and Closure Days You may wish to take annual leave prior to and/or after your paternity leave period. As annual leave is managed locally you should liaise with your manager to confirm this. Your entitlement to annual leave will accrue as usual during both paid and unpaid paternity leave. Members of staff, including those who have taken paternity leave, are expected to take all of their holiday entitlement during the holiday year in which it accrues. Any carry forward must be with the agreement of the manager and the maximum number of days that can be carried forward will be limited to 5 days to be taken by 31 st December in the new holiday year. You are entitled to be credited for time off for any Bank Holidays and Closure Days which fall during the PAID period of your paternity leave, this time should be taken at the end of your paternity leave period before you return to work. For part-time employees: To determine what time off you are entitled to for Bank Holidays and Closure Days which fall during the PAID period of your paternity leave you should refer to the following link: (new link to leave calculator to be inserted). You should confirm and arrange time off using annual leave and time off for Bank Holidays and Closure Days with your manager. Additional Paternity Leave in the event of the death of the mother or the child In the event of the death of the mother the member of staff may be entitled to take Extended Additional Paternity leave. In the event of the death of the child Additional Paternity leave will end 8 weeks after the week in which this occurs or on the date Additional Paternity leave was due to end if this is earlier than 8 weeks. Further details can be obtained from Human Resources. 5. Pensions during OPL and APL During any period of paid paternity leave the University will continue to make full contributions into the occupational pension scheme, if you are a member, and the period will be regarded as pensionable service. Your contributions will be based on the actual amount of contractual or statutory paternity pay that is received. If you are taking unpaid leave beyond the period of Statutory Paternity Pay, you will be contacted by Payroll and Pensions Section to discuss whether you wish to maintain contributions during the period of unpaid leave. If you wish to maintain your contributions, the University will also maintain its contributions, ensuring that you continue to accrue pension benefits. If you choose not to maintain your own pension contributions, your membership will continue in that you will continue to be covered by the death in service provisions, but you will not accrue any pension benefits during this period. However if your employment comes to an end, your membership of the scheme will end with it unless you transfer to another employment linked to the same scheme. Page 5 of 7
If you are a USS/RBP Pensions+ member you will continue with your pensions salary sacrifice during period of paid paternity leave, provided your reference salary is not reduced below the National Minimum Wage. Salary sacrifices cannot be made against statutory payments such as SPP so the sacrifice will only apply to your University Ordinary Paternity Pay at full salary. If you choose to take a period of unpaid leave you will be contacted by the Payroll and Pensions Section to discuss whether you wish to increase your salary sacrifice on your return to work to maintain your pensionable service during the unpaid period. If you do any work for the University during your paternity leave as a Keeping in Touch Day, and this is outside the period of paid leave, no pension contributions will be due. Where a KIT day is taken within the paid period of paternity leave contributions will be deducted on the actual pay you receive with the University paying the balance necessary to maintain full benefit accrual. Further information regarding the pension scheme can be obtained by contacting the following staff in Payroll and Pensions: Vall Wall, vall.wall@ncl.ac.uk Extension 5102 or Lisa Cole, lisa.cole@ncl.ac.uk 6496 6. Returning to work after Ordinary and Additional Paternity Leave We will presume you are going to return to work on the date stated on your Paternity Leave Request Form. Therefore, if you are going to return to work on this date, we don t require any further notification from you. If you change your mind about your return date you must give 6 weeks notice of the change. If you don t and the university needs more notice, the university has the right to enforce the postponement of your return until 6 weeks notice has elapsed, but not beyond 26 weeks leave. If you are returning during or at the end of Ordinary Paternity Leave you are entitled to return to the same job on the same terms and conditions of employment as if you had not been absent. If you are returning during or at the end of Additional Paternity Leave you are entitled to return to the same job on the same terms and conditions of employment as if you had not been absent, or if that is not reasonably practicable, to a similar job. If on your return to work you are absent due to illness your absence will be treated under the University s normal sickness leave scheme. If you are on a fixed term contract The University will treat all staff, regardless of the type of contract (i.e. fixed term or open), in the same way with respect to paternity leave and pay. Some funding bodies are prepared to suspend or extend grants to allow for paternity leave. To find out if this is the case you should first contact your School/Institute Manager and then you should consult your Human Resources Team. Page 6 of 7
If you are employed on a fixed term contract and your contract is due to expire during the course of your paternity leave, your employment will be extended beyond the expiry date if it would have been extended had you not been on paternity leave. If you are eligible for Additional Paternity Pay and your contract is due to expire during the period of paternity leave, you will obviously not be required to return to work, but your APP will continue to be paid through the University for the appropriate period. 7. Flexible working If you have previously worked on a full-time basis, you do not have a legal right to return from paternity leave on a part-time basis. The University is aware of its responsibility as a caring employer and of the legislation and will give sympathetic consideration to a request to return to work on a part-time basis either initially or in the long term. If you wish to request a return to work on a part-time basis, please follow the process as outlined in the Flexible Working Arrangements and requests for Flexible Working. See Human Resources website. Approval Approved by Staff Committee 23 May 2011 Policy Owner Human Resources Policy Authors Pamela Graham, Tracey Charlton, Lynn McArdle Published on HR website June 2011 Page 7 of 7