Family Leave Policies (replacing MAPP Policy)
Posted on 06 February 2026
From - Rachel Kirstenfeldt, Senior Research & Policy Development Adviser, People Services
To - All age groups for the attention of Headteachers, Bursars and admins
Action - Please take the Family Leave Policies through your normal governance process. Where there is an impact on pay (i.e. offering stretching occupational pay) you will need to consider how you take this forward with your payroll providers.
We’re pleased to commend the Family Leave Policies to replace the previous MAPP version to LA maintained schools for adoption. These updates reflect our commitment to supporting employees through all stages of family life, with clearer, more accessible guidance tailored to individual needs.#
Any checklists or forms provided should be amended to reflect local contact arrangements/ support locally in place.
To make it easier for employees/managers/headteachers to find the information that matters most, each type of leave is now presented in a separate, standalone document. The new range of policies means you won’t need to trawl through irrelevant sections to get the answers you need.
The updated policies cover:
- Maternity Leave
- Adoption Leave
- Shared Parental Leave
- Parent Support Leave (formerly Paternity/Maternity (or Adoption) Support)
- Ordinary Parental Leave
Each policy outlines entitlements to time off and pay, and includes guidance for both employees and managers.
Our long-term family leave policies - maternity, adoption and shared parental leave policies all have new checklists available for schools to adapt to their own local terminology policy/terms and support provisions.
All documents will be available on the new SLN pages ‘called Family Leave Policies.
Key changes:
- Stretching Occupational Maternity and Adoption Pay Eligible employees can now choose to spread their occupational maternity or adoption pay over 24 weeks, rather than the standard 12 weeks. This flexible option is designed to help colleagues manage their personal finances more effectively during leave.
- Clarifying that the minimum notice required when returning early from maternity or adoption leave is 21 days, to align with national conditions of service. We still encourage 8 weeks’ notice to help us plan appropriately for return. Eight weeks also aligns closely with the two-month timescale that a flexible working request should be dealt within.
- Day-One Right for Ordinary Parental Leave You no longer need 12 months’ service to access our Ordinary Parental Leave. We have made this entitlement available from day one of employment, ensuring immediate support for new employees who are parents.
- Ordinary Parental leave can be taken in ½ days. Rather than being limited to take a full day as unpaid ordinary parental leave, we’ve built in more flexibility in that you will be able to request the time off in ½ day period's.
- More simplistic guidance on shared parental leave with visual tables to show how it can be taken.
- Pathway to Parenthood via Surrogacy We’ve clarified the support available for colleagues becoming parents through surrogacy arrangements, including eligibility for adoption leave and pay. This includes guidance for those applying for a Parental Order and timelines for notifying managers.
- Less technical language: colleagues told us that some of the language was complex and hard to understand so we’ve stripped that back to as much plain English as possible.
- KIT and SPLIT days: Being clear that you can get this paid at the end of your Maternity, Adoption or Shared parental leave or in the next available payroll run.
- Flexible Working and Childcare funding: information included on the FAQ document.
New Guidance on breastfeeding and returning to work: separate guidance has been developed for managers and employees to refer to when considering returning to work whilst still breastfeeding. We've included guidance and signposting from our partners in MPFT to help navigate this journey.
