The Armed Forces offer occupational leave schemes which follow, and in some cases, exceed statutory provision for maternity, paternity and adoption leave.
Armed Forces’ Occupational Maternity Scheme
All servicewomen regardless of their length of service are entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave. Eligible Servicewomen are also entitled to receive Statutory Maternity Pay. The Armed Forces Occupational Maternity Scheme (AFOMS) provides qualifying women (those who have at least a year’s continuous service and who intend to return to work for a minimum of 12 months following maternity leave) with full pay for the first 26 weeks of Ordinary Maternity Leave.
Servicewomen who have given birth are screened from deployment in the UK or overseas for at least six months after the birth of their child, unless they volunteer otherwise. The Services also endeavour not to deploy both serving parents at the same time, where this does not compromise operational capability.
The Armed Forces occupational Paternity Leave Scheme provides qualifying fathers with 14 days of Ordinary Paternity Leave, instead of the statutory provision of 10 days, with two weeks’ full pay rather than the Statutory Paternity Pay rate at the time of the birth of a child or a child’s placement in the case of adoptions. Additional Paternity Leave was introduced for members of the Armed Forces in 2011 and this enables parents to share responsibility for looking after their children in the case of births and placements for adoption.
The Armed Forces are exempt from the flexible working provisions of UK employment legislation, as working patterns that might compromise the operational flexibility of the Armed Forces are incompatible with Regular Service. Arrangements are in place to improve, where possible, the work-life balance of both male and female personnel. These include:
- Career breaks of over 3 months and up to 3 years
- Special unpaid leave of up to 93 days
- Variable start/finish times of the working day
- Short-term home working
- Compressed hours (working longer on some days to allow an earlier finish on other days)
- An allowance of 38 days’ leave, 8 of which are public holidays