The Council and the General Board give notice that they have agreed a revision of the policy covering maternity provision for all groups of staff in order to comply with changes to statutory provision contained in the Work and Families Act 2006. The revised policy will apply to all female employees whose expected week of childbirth begins on or after 1 April 2007. The statement has been circulated to Heads of institutions and is available on the University's website (http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/personnel/policy/maternity.shtml). The Council and the Board have agreed that the following text should replace their Notice on p. 639 of Statutes and Ordinances.
All women University officers shall be entitled to eighteen weeks' maternity leave with stipend and, in addition, up to thirty-four weeks' unpaid maternity leave. Since the statutory paid provision has been extended to thirty-nine weeks, payment of the standard rate of Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance (included in the payment of full stipend for the initial eighteen weeks) will, for those eligible under statutory regulations, continue for the first twenty-one weeks of the unpaid leave provision under the University's maternity policy. (Under current legislation no woman may resume work earlier than two weeks after giving birth.)
Maternity leave should normally commence no earlier than the eleventh week before the expected date of childbirth. A University officer who intends to take maternity leave shall give notice of that fact by the fifteenth week before her expected week of childbirth, through the Personnel Consultant assigned to her institution, to the Registrary if she holds an office under the supervision of the Council, or to the Academic Secretary if she holds an office under the supervision of the General Board. Maternity leave will be granted under the provisions of Statute D, II, 6(b). Employer's contributions to USS will be continued for the period of paid leave; during any period of unpaid leave an officer may maintain her USS contributions by paying both the employee's and the employer's contributions. Stipend increments will accrue in the normal way during leave.
A term which includes maternity leave will be reckoned as a term of service for the purposes of Statute D, II, 5.
Further details, including new provisions aimed at improving communication, are contained in the policy statement which has been circulated to Heads of institutions and is available on the University's website (http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/personnel/policy/maternity.shtml).
University flexible working policy (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 152)
In the light of the new right from 6 April 2007 under the Work and Families Act 2006 for adult carers to make requests to work flexibly under the Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2006, the Council and the General Board give notice of the existing, more favourable University flexible working policy applicable to all employees (http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/personnel/policy/flexible/policy.html).
Further details on other family-related leave provisions, including paternity, adoption, parental, and emergency leave, are available on the University's website (http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/personnel/policy/).
Regulations governing employment by the University and Rules
The Council gives notice that, having consulted with the University and Assistants Joint Board, it will publish a revised version of Rules J, Leave and Pay, which sets out the provisions of the maternity policy statement and other family-related leave. Copies of the revised Rules are being circulated to Heads of institutions. Further copies are available on request from the Personnel Division.