Maternity, paternity and adoption - an overview

Introduction

There are laws that support working parents in combining work with looking after their children.

As well as your legal duty to uphold these rights, it's also good practice to support family-friendly working for a number of reasons, including:

• retaining skilled and experienced staff
• improving employee morale
• reducing absenteeism
• increasing productivity
• creating a more diverse workforce

This guide covers pregnancy and maternity-related rights, family-friendly working, time off for dependents and other important issues.

Remember that there's nothing to stop you offering more generous family-friendly working than that laid down by the law.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• When an employee is pregnant
• Health and safety of new and expectant mothers
• Maternity pay
• Returning to work after maternity leave
• Paternity pay
• Adoption pay
• Maternity, paternity and adoption leave
• Parental leave
• Time off for dependants
• Family-friendly ways of working