Adoption leave and pensions

Pension contributions while on adoption leave: what changes in 2026

Updated 18 October 2026

From 6 October 2026, if you are an adopter taking statutory adoption leave, your employer must treat your pension in the same way as for an employee on maternity leave. That means the 52 weeks of adoption leave, including the first 39 weeks of statutory adoption pay, count for workplace pension purposes, and your employer must continue to pay its share of contributions on your ordinary pay. Weeks of statutory shared parental pay taken in an adoption context, and adoption support leave for the secondary adopter, also count. If your employer has been treating adoption leave differently from maternity leave, that ends on this date.

Who gets the new adoption leave pension treatment from 6 October 2026

If you are an employee whose baby is placed with you for adoption on or after 6 October 2026, the new rules apply. They also apply to people adopting from overseas where the child enters Great Britain on or after that date, and to intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement where a parental order is made on or after that date, with the qualifying conditions that already apply in the statutory adoption leave scheme.

Two routes into parenthood are now matched for pension purposes. Statutory maternity leave, which has had full pension protection for several years, is the model. Statutory adoption leave, which had a partial carve out, is being aligned. The driver is the Neonatal Care Leave and Employment Rights (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026, which come into force on 6 October 2026. The regulations sit alongside the Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 that bring in much of the wider autumn package.

In practice, if you are the primary adopter, you get 52 weeks of adoption leave. Of that, the first 26 weeks are ordinary adoption leave, and the last 26 weeks are additional adoption leave. During the first 39 weeks you are entitled to statutory adoption pay if you meet the qualifying service and earnings conditions, with the same 26 weeks at the higher rate and 13 weeks at the lower rate as statutory maternity pay.

If you are the secondary adopter, you can take adoption support leave, which is up to 52 weeks. You may also share leave with the primary adopter, paid as statutory shared parental pay, in the same way as the equivalent route for biological parents.

The effect of the new rules is that every week of any of these leave types is treated as pensionable pay, on the same basis as if you had been at work. That removes the rule that only weeks of higher rate statutory adoption pay counted, which had left a long tail of weeks in which no employer pension contribution was due.

What your employer must pay into your pension while you are on adoption leave

Your employer's duty is straightforward. For each week of your 52 week adoption leave, your employer must pay the same employer pension contribution it would have paid if you had been at work and earning your normal pay.

Concretely, that works as follows.

First, during weeks 1 to 26 of ordinary adoption leave, the period covered by higher rate statutory adoption pay, the period of your pay at the statutory rate is treated as your pensionable pay. Your employer must continue to pay its share of the contribution on that pay. If you had been contributing through salary sacrifice, your employer should keep paying the full contribution it would have paid before the leave started, and your own contributions may be suspended for the period, with the position explained in your policy.

Second, during weeks 27 to 39 of additional adoption leave, the period covered by the lower rate of statutory adoption pay, the same rule applies. Your employer still owes its share on the statutory pay you receive. The carve out that previously applied to weeks 27 to 39, where the employer did not have to make a contribution on the lower rate statutory adoption pay, is being removed.

Third, during weeks 40 to 52 of additional adoption leave, the period of unpaid leave, your employer must continue to treat you as if you were at work. That means the employer pension contribution is calculated on the pay you would have received if you had not been on leave, which for most people will be the rate of pay in the week immediately before your adoption leave started, or the average of the 12 weeks before that, depending on your scheme rules.

For salary sacrifice schemes, the result is usually that the salary sacrifice stops, and the employer pays the full pension contribution itself, including the part you would have sacrificed. Schemes vary, so it is worth reading the policy or asking your employer to confirm in writing.

For defined contribution schemes, the right is to a contribution of at least the percentage your employer would have made on your ordinary pay. For defined benefit schemes, the rule is preserved benefits, meaning each week of adoption leave counts as if you had been at work, so your final salary and your reckonable service are unaffected by taking adoption leave.

What your own employee contributions look like during adoption leave

Most employees continue to make employee pension contributions during adoption leave, although the amount can flex. The basic rule is that, where the contributions are calculated as a percentage of pay, the percentage continues to apply to your pensionable pay during leave, so you keep paying the same proportion of whatever pay you are receiving.

If you are on statutory adoption pay, your employee contribution is based on the statutory pay you receive, so the pound amount will be lower than usual. If you are on unpaid additional adoption leave, the question of whether to ask you for an employee contribution on notional pay, and how to collect it, is up to your scheme. Many employers simply do not collect an employee contribution during unpaid leave and instead pay the full contribution themselves, which is the more generous option.

Some employees ask whether they can buy back missed pension for the unpaid weeks. You can ask, and many employers will allow it as a separate voluntary contribution, but they are not obliged to. If the option exists, it is usually set out in the scheme booklet. If it does not exist, the notional pay treatment still means your reckonable service and final salary are protected, so the gap is smaller than it looks.

If you take shared parental pay in an adoption context, the same rules apply as for maternity. Each week of statutory shared parental pay you receive is treated as pensionable pay, and your employer owes its share on that pay.

Auto enrolment while on adoption leave

Auto enrolment rules changed in October 2026 so that you are enrolled from day one if you meet the age and earnings criteria, rather than after a waiting period. If you are on adoption leave when that change came in, your employer should have enrolled you on the first day of the new regime, 6 October 2026, if you were not already in the scheme.

Once you are enrolled, your contributions begin from that first day. If you go on to adoption leave later, the rules above then govern what your employer pays for each week of leave.

If you are already in the scheme when adoption leave starts, nothing about the new auto enrolment rules affects what your employer owes. The employer contribution during adoption leave is the same as it would have been at work.

One practical point. If your employer does not have an auto enrolment scheme, which is rare, but still happens in some very small workplaces, you cannot claim the auto enrolment rules to get pension contributions during adoption leave, because there is no scheme to contribute to. What you can do is ask for a stakeholder pension or a personal pension arrangement as the basis for the contributions, and your employer will normally have to enrol you into one of those, with employer contributions at the minimum level for a jobholder. If your employer refuses, that is a question to take to the Pensions Regulator or, where appropriate, the employment tribunal.

What to do in the meantime

First, check your adoption leave paperwork. Your employer should have given you written information about your adoption leave, including a note of your expected return date. If the paperwork is silent on pensions, ask for the pension treatment in writing. The default position from 6 October 2026 is full pension protection for the whole 52 weeks.

Second, ask for a pension illustration. Request a statement of the contributions your employer has made and expects to make for each week of your adoption leave. If the numbers do not match what is set out in the regulations, raise it with HR or payroll, and put the question in writing so there is a record.

Third, keep your payslips. If you suspect the wrong amount is being paid, you have 3 months from the date of the underpayment to bring a claim in the employment tribunal for unlawful deductions from wages. If the problem only becomes clear when you return to work, the 3 month clock starts from the payslip that did not have the right contribution, not from the date the contribution was technically due.

Fourth, raise the issue with your union or with an employment law adviser if the underpayment is significant. Many employers will correct the position quickly once it is drawn to their attention. The regulations are clear, so a polite letter setting out the dates and the law is often enough.

What to do in the meantime is to ask, in writing, what your employer intends to do, and to set a reasonable deadline for the answer. If the answer does not arrive, or is wrong, you can escalate through ACAS early conciliation, then the tribunal. The pension protection rules have been around for maternity leave for years, and the same framework now applies to adoption leave from 6 October 2026.

This article is for employees in Great Britain. It is general information, not legal advice, and does not cover Northern Ireland. Speak to an adviser about your specific situation.