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Sick, Parental and other Exceptional Leave Policy

Background

This document outlines the MPLS division’s policy for medical, bereavement and family leave (henceforth referred to as ‘exceptional leave’ when referring to all categories) for Oxford-funded scholarship holders. As one of our primary funders, we use UKRI policy as a framework for funded leave. The relevant UKRI conditions relating to this can be found on UKRI’s webpage. This policy supports divisional compliance with UKRI training grant terms and conditions and ensures a consistent approach is taken in awarding funded extensions for exceptional reasons across MPLS departments for funded students.

All funded students in MPLS should be supported during periods of ill health, family leave and during bereavement. The division’s aim is to provide funded leave for all students in receipt of a UKRI or University scholarship. Where the student’s scholarship cannot provide a funding extension due to time off for ill health, the department should, wherever possible, underwrite the funding extension.

Students who are funded by grants held at other institutions should refer to their funder terms and conditions in respect of funded leave.

General principles

  1. Any student within MPLS, regardless of how they are funded, is entitled to take time off from their study if they are sick, on compassionate grounds, or if they become a parent.
  2. Clear policies for exceptional leave are important to ensure parity of provision for funded students across the division, as well as complying with UKRI’s training grant terms and conditions. Students should be made aware of their entitlement to this leave.
  3. Administration and budgeting responsibility for UKRI exceptional leave is devolved to departments and CDTs/DFAs and must be paid from either the CDT/DFA grant or DTP/DLA allocation. No funding will be reserved to cover exceptional leave for grants held by the divisional office (i.e. EPSRC training grants). Where a training grant is very small, and unlikely to be extended, the grant holder can request additional funds to cover medical leave; however, this would unlikely be granted for a CDT/DFA grant and certainly not for the EPSRC DTP/DLA, which is a rolling training grant. Provision for this must therefore be absorbed by the overall grant or the department’s allocation from that grant.
  4. For students funded from other University administered sources, the department should check details in specific sections below (e.g. for Clarendon) or liaise with the appropriate administrative unit prior to agreeing funded leave.

Implementation guidance for medical leave

  1. Medical leave should be taken in circumstances where a student is considered unfit to study. Examples of leave that can be supported under medical leave are:

    • Sick leave (including both physical and mental health)
    • Pregnancy-related illness
    • Antenatal appointments
    • Fertility treatment – a student experiencing fertility issues and has been medically advised that they require leave, including (but not limited to) undergoing fertility treatment
    • Disability-related illness (including chronic illness)
    • Disability-related appointments (including for chronic illness) e.g. diagnosis, therapy or treatment
    • Gender reassignment – a student undertaking gender reassignment and has been medically advised that they require leave. Four weeks is the minimum period that can be claimed as funded medical leave. Normally a medical certificate must be provided in support of a claim. Approved claims will result in a commensurate extension to the funding end date for the studentship.

  2. Where a student is absent on grounds of illness for a period less than four weeks, their funding will continue, but they will be expected to absorb the period of illness into the overall duration of their award. Where a short period of illness occurs within one month of the student’s submission date and within the funded period of their award, consideration may be given to additional support until the student is able to submit their thesis, up to a maximum of a period commensurate with the period of sickness.
  3. Where an illness delays, but does not entirely halt a student’s work, then medical leave can be applied pro-rated. The four-week minimum period would still apply on a full-time equivalent basis, i.e. if a student has only been able to work at 50% capacity, they would need to have been sick for a total of eight weeks to claim medical leave. This can also apply to non-continuous illness arising from a single cause. Normally, for a pro-rata claim to be made, the delay should have arisen from a single cause over a period of time, but in exceptional cases illness over a period related to multiple causes may be considered.
  4. Normally a maximum of 28 weeks paid medical leave may be granted in a rolling twelve-month period and no more than 28 weeks of medical leave in any twelve-month period may be funded from UKRI sources. For MPLS research students, the 12-month period will be taken to begin on the first day of the period of illness for which the medical leave is granted. The total period of agreed extensions must not normally exceed 52 weeks during the lifetime of an award.
  5. On return from medical leave, a phased return to study should be considered and can be supported through amendments to the funding package. If appropriate, the student should be offered the opportunity to change their mode of study (e.g. by a move to part-time). This should be in accordance with the University’s research degrees policy. Students should be given full information as to the effect on their stipend of any phased return or change of mode of study.
  6. Chronic illness (including mental health difficulties) may be dealt with as medical leave under this policy, in the absence of other provision, by applying pro-rated medical leave subject to the usual terms of the policy. Medical evidence related to chronic illness will normally only need to be provided once and consideration should be given as to whether this has already been provided (e.g. to the Disability Advisory Service). MPLS aspires to a full policy dealing with chronic illnesses in students, allowing for amendments to the overall studentship structure to accommodate the needs of the student. If such a policy is realised in future, it will supersede this policy in how to deal with students with chronic illness.
  7. Students should request exceptional leave through their academic department or CDT/DTP directorate.
  8. Medical documentation is usually collected as part of any accompanying suspension of status, therefore, where the medical leave accompanies a medical suspension of status, the department can approve medical leave in parallel to this. In rare cases medical evidence is not supplied, and these should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, acknowledging that medical evidence is a requirement for UKRI-funded students under UKRI training grant terms and conditions.
  9. In circumstances where paid medical leave is awarded, but the student does not suspend (i.e. for shorter periods of illness), the department should seek medical documentation and retain this for auditing purposes in accordance with their data retention policy.
  10. Incorporated students on CDT programmes must receive the same entitlements as students funded from the CDT grant. It is therefore the responsibility of the CDT to ensure that Incorporated students’ funding packages contain a provision for medical leave. If there is no other recourse to funds, the CDT/DFA responsible for the award is liable to cover medical leave.
  11. Aligned students do not have the same medical leave entitlement as CDT/DFA/Incorporated students and will be bound by the terms and conditions of their funder.
  12. Where a UKRI-funded student’s stipend is co-funded, an arrangement should be put in place so that the co-funder covers their proportion of any exceptional leave awarded to the student. This is because UKRI will only fund leave in proportion with what they pay for the studentship.
  13. If the co-funder in unable to pay their proportion, responsibility will fall to the student’s department.

Family leave (Maternity, Paternity and Adoption)

  1. The University family leave policy outlines the approach for suspension for family leave and recommendations for funded students.
  2. MPLS doctoral students who suspend for family leave as birth parents are entitled to 26 weeks paid leave, regardless of their current funding situation, at the UKRI stipend level. MPLS doctoral students taking family leave as non-birth parents are entitled to 2 weeks of leave. No additional funding will normally be paid.
  3. In those cases where both parents are students, this financial support can be shared, if it enables the student who gave birth to return to study in their MPLS department. Funding is available for students in years 1-4 of their programme.
  4. Where funding is not already provided for under a student’s existing grant arrangements, eligibility for this funding can be found on the Funding for Family Leave section of the MPLS webpage.
  5. There is no qualifying period for family leave, and there is no limit on the number of periods of family leave a student can take across the duration of their studentship.
  6. Students returning from family leave should be supported back into study. In line with University policy on family leave, students are expected to indicate prior to taking leave that they intend to return to study. Within MPLS there is no minimum period for return to study following family leave, however, in line with training grant conditions, UKRI-funded students will be liable to return any family leave paid to them if they choose not to return to their studies.
  7. Students returning from family leave should be supported in changing their mode of study to part-time (0.5 FTE), if appropriate or requested.
  8. Funding for family leave should be provided via the student’s normal funding source wherever possible and must be compliant with the funder’s terms and conditions. If the normal funding source is unable to provide funding for family leave, please contact the MPLS Graduate Office team for guidance.
  9. In the case of same sex couples becoming parents, all provisions above will apply. If neither partner gives birth to the child, the provisions outline for adoption leave below shall apply.
  10. Arrangements for adoption leave usually parallel those made for family leave, in that the main carer is designated in the role of birth parent, regardless of sex/gender, and the carer’s partner takes ‘paternity’ leave. All provisions above will apply.

Additional leave

  1. Additional leave may be sought for a number for reasons including, but not limited to bereavement, pregnancy loss, baby loss, providing care for a sick dependent, disability associated with delayed adjustments, or health and safety. Students requiring additional leave should receive support.
  2. Short periods of special leave on compassionate grounds can be granted for periods of up to five days, for example to attend a funeral of a member of the student’s extended family or a close friend. The student’s funding will continue but they will be expected to absorb the period of special leave into the overall duration of their award.
  3. In more acute cases, for example the death of a parent, close relative, child, or pregnancy loss before 24 weeks, 10 days of leave should normally be paid as funded special leave. In these cases, the studentship may be extended to offset the period of special leave taken.
  4. If a longer period is required, special leave should be granted accompanied by a suspension of status. However, no additional funding should ordinarily be awarded beyond the initial 10 days.
  5. Where the cause of the student’s special leave has had a detrimental impact on a student’s mental health, for which medical evidence can be obtained, this can be treated as medical leave for the student.
  6. Additional leave can be granted following baby loss (including stillbirth or neonatal death). This is in addition to special leave on compassionate grounds and can be granted if the baby is stillborn or dies within the first 52 weeks after birth, from week 24 of pregnancy onwards. The same family leave should be granted as would have been provided, if the baby had survived. Any existing family leave should continue, unless the student requests to return to study early.
  7. Additional leave may be granted when a student is unable to study due to a delay in implementing reasonable adjustments for a disability that lasts over 5 days. An extension of up to 4 weeks may be granted. During this time, the student’s funding may continue, but they must not engage in any study until reasonable adjustments have been put in place. If the period of disruption exceeds 4 weeks, please contact the Divisional Office for advice.
  8. If a health and safety concern temporarily prevent a student from studying, and the department has taken all reasonable steps to mitigate the issue, the studentship may be extended to cover a period of leave over 5 days. An extension of up to 4 weeks may be granted. During this time, the situation must be reviewed regularly to assess whether the student can safely return to study. If the period of disruption exceeds 4 weeks, please contact the Divisional Office for advice.

Jury Service

  1. The period of a student’s support should be extended in line with absence due to extended jury service.

Administration of exceptional leave

  1. Departments are required to draw any funding for exceptional leave from the relevant training grant (or their departmental allocation for the EPSRC DTP/DLA).
  2. Payments for exceptional leave on UKRI grants should be clearly identified on Oracle grants on a separate project subtask. This is important for reporting to UKRI and for reconciling grants for the Final Expenditure Statement (FES).
  3. Extensions resulting from exceptional leave must also be reported on the student’s Je-S record within four weeks of the exceptional leave being granted.

Exceptional leave for other funded students

  1. Clarendon-funded students can apply for an extension due to exceptional leave (e.g. for periods of ill health), which will be paid at the end of their funding as an extension to their scholarship. The maximum level of extension for illness will be aligned to the UKRI maximum (i.e. 28 weeks in a 12-month period). The department can approve this extension and inform the MPLS Graduate Funding Officer, who will request that Student Fees and Funding disburse the extension and issue a variation letter. In cases where the student requests an extension through the Clarendon Administrator in Student Fees and Funding, the Clarendon Administrator will refer the request to the MPLS Graduate Funding Officer to gain approval from the department.
  2. Exceptional leave for other University-funded students can be awarded on a case-by-case basis. This is dependent on what reserves are held by particular scholarship funds (which is variable) and there is no central University sick pay entitlement that applies to all funded students.
  3. As there is no central medical leave entitlement for University-funded students, any funding extension for these students will be awarded as an extension due to exceptional or extenuating circumstances, and will not be referred to as ‘medical leave’.
  4. Clarendon students are also entitled to two terms paid family leave, when it accompanies a suspension. This entitlement is not currently extended to all centrally-administered University scholarships, but extending the entitlement is under consideration. MPLS supports adequate provision being made centrally for all student parents.
  5. Where a Clarendon student is co-funded by a college partnership award, the default position is that the Clarendon fund will cover the whole extension.
  6. Where a Clarendon student is co-funded by UKRI, the extension will be split according to the normal funding ratio of the studentship.

Version 1.3, September 2025

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