Adoption, Special and Annual leave

Modified on Wed, 4 Mar at 11:52 AM

Adoption leave

If you adopt a child, you may have the right to up to 52 weeks of adoption leave. To qualify, you must:

be an employee (rather than, for example, a contractor) and have worked continuously for your current employer for at least 26 weeks ending with the week in which you are notified of being matched with the child;
be newly matched with a child by an adoption agency.

Annual leave

If you work five days a week or more you have the right to at least 28 days’ paid leave every year. Your employer can control some things about your holiday, including when you take it. If you work part time, you are entitled to the same amount of leave on a pro-rata basis.

Special leave

Special leave is the term used to describe time off work that doesn’t fit into any of the other categories of leave. There are many different types of special leave which you are entitled to by law. Some types of leave are at the discretion of your employer.

Some things that may justify special leave are:

a domestic crisis;
hospital appointments;
court appearances;
trade union representation.

Key factsThere are many different types of leave that you are entitled to, depending on your circumstances.
There are laws governing the amount of leave you can take but your employer is likely to have their own rules too, although you cannot be worse off under your employer’s own terms.
Taking one type of leave should not generally affect your other leave allowances. For example, if you take sick leave you can still take your full amount of annual leave.