We’ve chosen not to separate maternity leave from paternity leave because we believe in equal benefits for both parents, so to us it’s parental leave.

• What will I be paid?

  • We offer 10 weeks of fully paid leave, and another 10 weeks paid at 50% of your full salary
  • After that, 8 weeks of leave paid at 25% and then 11 weeks at the statutory pay rate
  • All of this leave can be taken in blocks, apart from the first two weeks after the birth, where the mother must take time off in accordance with UK law
  • We ask that all Parental Leave is taken within 12 months your child's birth or adoption date
  • For anyone who has been with Charlie for over 3.5 years (or will have been with Charlie for 3.5 years once their parental leave comes to an end), you have the option to add your sabbatical time onto the end of parental leave
  • We offer the same benefits as above for anyone welcoming a new member to their family via any other UK-approved route (adoption, surrogacy, foster care). We also offer the same benefits as above for those who are carrying a child for someone else (surrogates)

  In addition to the above benefits, we offer an optional extra 4 weeks at 50% pay for anyone who:

  • has a [legally defined](https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010#:~:text=You're disabled under the,to do normal daily activities.) disability and is welcoming a child into their family
  • is welcoming a child with a [legally defined](https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010#:~:text=You're disabled under the,to do normal daily activities.) disability into their family
  • If you feel you would benefit from these additional weeks, please do discuss this with your line manager

• What benefits can I access before and during my parental leave?

  • Our policy around flexible hours means that anyone welcoming a new child is free to attend any appointments they need, including check-ups, antenatal appointments or classes.

  • We understand that not all journeys to parenthood are the same - some are much more time consuming than others - so we also offer the option to reduce your hours by up to one day a week if you are:

    • going through the adoption process
    • going through the foster care process
    • going through any fertility processes such as IVF
    • having a medically difficult pregnancy

    (This list isn’t exhaustive, so if you feel you would benefit from reduced hours, please do speak with your line manager as soon as you can)

  • Starting a family isn’t always straightforward, so we are happy cover 50% of costs (up to £200) of a fertility test or a Pregnancy Viability Index test for whichever parent-to-be works at Charlie

  • While you’re on parental leave, you’ll still have access to your budgets. We’d love to support you on your journey towards welcoming a new family member by expanding the reach of your budgets! You can use the following budgets in these ways:

    • L&D budget: can be used towards classes, courses, books and any other resources around parenting
    • Wellbeing budget: can be used towards postnatal depression support in additional to Spill, antenatal and/or postnatal osteopathy treatment or massages, or anything else that you feel will enhance your sense of wellbeing 💙
    • Flexible working budget: can be used towards things like baby monitors in your home office, or anything else that allows you to get your best work done whilst becoming a parent

• What about when I return to work?

  • We have a return to work policy that we’ll review on a case by case basis depending on how it works for the business and for you.
  • If you’d like to return part time, we have some flexibility which we’ll discuss with you

• What might working part-time look like?

  • At the very least, for the first 3 months, we’d like you to work 3 full working days
  • By the end of month 6, we’ll have a clearer idea of what’s working well and will discuss with you what upping your days might look like.

Adoption leave

If you’ve chosen to adopt a child, our adoption leave policy is the same as our parental leave policy. But in order to qualify, you need to adopt a child through an approved UK adoption agency.