Family Friendly
Family friendly leave
Maternity
All employees are entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave if they are eligible. The University offers an enhanced maternity pay package for those with 26 weeks of continuous service or more. Please access the Maternity leave webpage for further details, including access to the Maternity Leave Policy, FAQs, Maternity Leave calculator and Risk Assessment.
Adoption
All employees are entitled to 52 weeks of adoption leave if they are eligible. The University offers an enhanced adoption pay package for those with 26 weeks of continuous service or more. Please access the Adoption leave webpage for further details, including access to the Adoption Leave Policy and FAQs.
Paternity
All employees are entitled to take 3 weeks of paternity leave if they meet the eligibility criteria. The University offers an enhanced paternity pay package for those with 26 weeks of continuous service or more. Please access the Paternity leave webpage for further details, including access to the Paternity Policy and FAQs.
Shared Parental Leave
Shared Parental Leave (SPL) creates flexibility for eligible birth/adoptive parents and partners to share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay within the first year following the birth or adoption of their child. SPL is a complex process so it is recommended that you read the information on the Shared Parental Leave webpage. Here you will find the SPL policy, FAQs and HR contact information if you want to arrange a meeting to discuss your arrangements.
Parental
All employees are entitled to take up to 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave provided they meet the eligibility criteria. For full details of the entitlement, please read the Parental Leave Policy.
Special leave for parents and carers
Neonatal Care Leave
This leave is in addition to existing parental leave entitlements. This is an entitlement for parents of babies who require neonatal care (for at least 7 consecutive days) before the baby reaches 28 days of life. For full details of this entitlement, please read the Neonatal Care Policy.
Fertility Leave
Employees who are receiving and recovering from fertility treatment, and supporting partners are entitled to paid time off. The leave is specifically associated with the fertility cycle (i.e. consultant appointments, monitoring and collection of eggs and embryo transfer). For further information about this provision, please access the Special Leave webpage.
Carer Leave (planned)
The University defines a carer as anyone caring for a spouse, civil partner, child, parent or other dependant (e.g. someone else who depends on your care or can reasonably rely on you providing or arranging care) who needs care because of a disability, old age or any illness or injury. The University provides paid leave to assist employees who have caring responsibilities. This leave will normally be planned/requested in advance of taking the leave. For further information about this provision, please access the Special Leave webpage.
Emergency (unplanned) leave to care for a dependant
The University allows employees paid time off work to deal with an emergency involving a dependant. The leave is to allow you to deal with the unexpected/sudden issue and to make longer term arrangements as necessary. For further information about this provision, please access the Special Leave webpage.
Parental Bereavement Leave
Employees who suffer the loss of a child, regardless of age, which includes individuals who suffer a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy are entitled to take 2 weeks paid leave. For further information about this provision, please access the Special Leave webpage.
Childcare support
Please note this scheme is only available to existing customers.
The University participates in a salary sacrifice scheme for childcare vouchers which is run by Computershare. Childcare vouchers are non-taxable and exempt from national insurance contributions so may be a more cost-efficient way of paying for childcare.
Nursery Salary Sacrifice Scheme
The University offers a nursery salary sacrifice scheme for current employees. The Scheme allows an employee to voluntary give up a portion of their pre-tax salary to cover nursery fees at the University of St Andrews Nursery. The employee can sacrifice an amount of salary equal to or less than their nursery fees, however, the amount sacrificed cannot exceed their nursery fees. Given that the deduction from salary is pre-tax, the employee can benefit from UK income tax and social security savings. Further information on the scheme can be read in the FAQs.
Staff Fee for Children of Employees
The University of St Andrews offers a staff tuition fee rate for the children of eligible staff members who are admitted to study an undergraduate degree with a full-time mode of attendance. More information can be found in the tuition fee policy for the children of employees.