Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2018 to Question 136096 on Self-employed: Adoption, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on statutory adoption leave for the self-employed of the request by adoption agencies that adoptive parents spend a minimum of six months at home when a child is first placed.

Adoption agencies will have a range of policies about how long they would ask adoptive parents to stay at home once a child is placed with them. We work closely with the Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies and the Association of Directors of Children's Services when developing policy on adoption.

As previously stated, where adopters do not qualify for family related statutory pay because they are self-employed, local authorities may make a payment equivalent to Maternity Allowance. This is at the discretion of the local authority and is means-tested.