Fair adoption pay must be a priority in parental leave review

The need for Fair Adoption Pay has been championed again by Liberal Democrat MP Lisa Smart, who raised the cause in a recent House of Commons Debate. 

She told the Statutory Maternity and Paternity Pay debate that it was critical that the Government takes the opportunity that the parental leave review offers to resolve this ongoing unfairness for self-employed workers. 

Lisa Smart, the MP for Hazel Grove constituency, said: “The Government’s ongoing review into parental leave is a cracking opportunity for them to fill a gap that currently exists for those who are self-employed and seeking to grow their family by adoption. 

“Currently they are not entitled to maternity allowance or maternity or paternity pay. This would be a very good thing to come out of the parental leave review.”

Biological parents qualify for maternity allowance and employed adopters are eligible for statutory adoption pay, but self-employed adopters rely on discretionary payments that are only available in around one third of the country, and which they are often unaware of.

Lisa added: “The current situation is clearly unfair. The Government has every opportunity to resolve this, and it must do so. The legislation is preventing children in need of loving parents from finding families who want to adopt them. This inequality is simply cruel.”