Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending eligibility for statutory adoption pay to the self-employed.

The Government recognises that it is crucial to the success of an adoption placement that an adopter takes time off work to care for and bond with their child.  So far, the Government has focused on supporting employed parents as they do not generally have the same level of flexibility and autonomy over how and when they work as self-employed parents do.

However, we recognise that affordability may limit the time away from work that some self-employed adopters can take, and therefore statutory adoption guidance says that Local Authorities should consider making a payment - equivalent to Maternity Allowance - in cases where adopters do not qualify for any statutory payment because of their self-employment.