Human Resources Division

Parental Leave Policy & Procedure

Policy
Parental Provision
Reference Documents

1. Policy

The policy of the University of Cambridge is to provide benefits which comply with the letter and the spirit of the law on parental leave. This policy applies to all members of staff who have a year's service and aims to inform them of their entitlement to statutory parental leave and ensure that these rights are understood.

2. Parental Leave Provision

2.1 Entitlement

Members of staff, both mothers and fathers (including same-sex partners) who have a baby or adopt a child and who have completed one year's continuous service by the time they want to take parental leave, may take 13 weeks (unpaid leave) in total for each child (18 weeks for a child with a disability), in line with the statutory provisions laid out below. You must be taking the time off to support the mother or carer for the baby and intend to be fully involved in their upbringing.

2.2 Statutory Provisions

Under the terms of the Employment Relations Act 1999: employees eligible to take Parental Leave are all those (mothers and fathers) who:

have a baby born on or after 15 December 1999 or whose child was under five on that date; or
adopted a child on or after 15 December 1999 or whose child was first placed with them for adoption in the five years leading up to 15 December 1999,
and who have completed one year's employment by the time they want to take the leave.

Employees may take 13 weeks (18 weeks for a child with a disability) unpaid leave in total for each child:

up until the child's fifth birthday (or by 31 March 2005 if the child was born before 15 December 1999);
in adoption cases, for five years after the child is first placed with the family for adoption (by 31 March 2005 if the child was placed for adoption before 15 December 1999), or until the child's 18th birthday if that comes sooner;
in the case of a child with a disability, up until the child's 18th birthday

This is subject to the following provisions:

leave must be taken in blocks or multiples of one week (except for parents of children with disabilities who may take leave in blocks or multiples of one day. For the purposes of parental leave, a child with a disability is one for whom disability living allowance has been awarded.)
in all cases a maximum of 4 weeks' parental leave in a year can be taken in respect of an individual child
21 days' notice must be given
the Head of Department can postpone the leave for up to 6 months where the business would be particularly disrupted if leave were taken at the time requested, except when the employee gives notice to take parental leave immediately after the time the child is born or is placed with the family for adoption.

At the end of parental leave an employee is guaranteed the right to return to the same job as before, provided that the leave was for a period of 4 weeks or less. If the leave was for a longer period, the employee is entitled to return to the same job, or, if that is not reasonably practicable, a similar job which has the same or better status, terms and conditions as the old job.

When parental leave follows maternity or adoption leave the general rule is that an employee is entitled to return to the same job they had before the leave. If at the end of additional unpaid maternity or adoption leave, this would not have been reasonably practicable, and it is still not reasonably practicable at the end of parental leave, they are entitled to return to a similar job which has the same or better status, terms and conditions as the old job.

2.3 Notification

The member of staff should give notice, using CHRIS/66 form (formerly PLAF), at least 21 days' before the requested date of leave.

2.4 Confirmation of leave

On receipt of the parental leave application form, the Human Resources Division will write to the member of staff confirming that leave has been granted.

2.5 Statutory entitlements on return to work

Emergency leave

All employees have a statutory right to short periods of unpaid leave in order to make arrangements to deal with family emergencies. In addition to this statutory provision Heads of Institution have discretion to grant compassionate leave where circumstances justify so doing.

Flexible working

All employees who have 26 weeks service at the date of application and have children under 6 years of age have a statutory right to apply to work flexibly to care for the child.