Understanding the Importance of Statutory Paternity Pay
Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) is the legal minimum payment that eligible employees in the UK are entitled to receive when they take time off following the birth or adoption of a child. It is separate from Paternity Leave, which is the period of absence itself. SPP is the financial entitlement that funds the absence, and it is a legal right rather than a discretionary benefit. Employers who meet the qualifying criteria cannot decline to pay it. The standard rate is £184.03 per week or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower, and it is paid for up to two weeks. Eligibility depends on continuous employment, earnings above a minimum threshold, and meeting specific notice requirements before the qualifying week. For employers, understanding SPP means knowing when the obligation applies, how to calculate the payment, and how to recover the cost through HMRC’s statutory payment reclaim mechanism.
A Practical Guide to Statutory Paternity Pay
The arrival of a child is one of the more significant moments in any employee’s life, and the weeks surrounding it bring both excitement and logistical complexity. For many new fathers and partners, the financial side of taking time off is one of the least well-understood aspects of the process. The distinction between the leave itself and the pay that accompanies it is not always clear, and the eligibility rules, notice requirements, and calculation methods add further layers that employees may not have encountered before.
This guide works through those layers in sequence. By the end, both employees seeking to understand their entitlements and employers managing their obligations will have a clear picture of how SPP works in practice.
Paternity Leave and Statutory Paternity Pay: Two Separate Things
Paternity Leave is the period of time an eligible employee is entitled to take away from work following the birth or adoption of a child. Statutory Paternity Pay is the income that supports them during that period. The two are connected but distinct, and an employee must meet the eligibility criteria for each independently.
An employee might be entitled to take Paternity Leave without necessarily qualifying for SPP, for example, if their earnings fall below the minimum threshold. Conversely, an employer may offer enhanced contractual paternity pay that exceeds the statutory minimum, in which case the statutory rate is effectively absorbed into the enhanced payment rather than paid on top of it.
For most employees, the question of paternity pay centres on understanding whether they qualify, what the payment will be, and what they need to do to secure it.
How Much Is Paid and How It Is Calculated
The weekly SPP rate is set by the government and reviewed annually. The current rate is £184.03 per week. The calculation rule is straightforward: an eligible employee receives either 90% of their average weekly earnings or the standard weekly rate, whichever is lower of the two.
For an employee earning an average of £150 per week, 90% of that figure is £135, which is below the standard rate. That employee receives £135 per week. For an employee earning £450 per week, 90% of that is £405, which exceeds the standard rate. That employee’s payment is capped at £184.03 per week.
SPP is treated as earnings for tax purposes. Income tax and National Insurance are deducted from the payment as usual, so the amount credited to the employee’s bank account will be lower than the gross weekly figure.
Qualifying Criteria
Three conditions must be met for an employee to qualify for SPP.
The first is continuous employment. The employee must have worked for the same employer without a break in their contract for at least 26 weeks. This period is measured up to and including the Qualifying Week, which is defined as the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth. An employee who changes employers shortly before the qualifying week will not have accumulated sufficient continuous service with their new employer, and their entitlement through that employer will not apply.
The second is earnings. The employee’s average weekly earnings during the eight weeks immediately preceding the Qualifying Week must be at or above the Lower Earnings Limit, currently £123 per week. This average is calculated using actual earnings during that period, which may include weeks with no pay for employees on variable- or zero-hours arrangements, and is balanced across the full eight-week window.
The third is responsibility. The employee must be the biological father of the child, the mother’s spouse or civil partner, or the mother’s partner, and must have, or expect to have, responsibility for the child’s upbringing. They must not be taking the leave to care for the child’s mother.
The Qualifying Week and Notice Requirements
The Qualifying Week is a fixed point in time relative to the expected week of childbirth and is central to both eligibility assessment and the notice process.
To identify it, take the Sunday before the baby’s due date, then count back 15 weeks. That Sunday marks the beginning of the Qualifying Week. The employer uses this date to assess whether the employee had 26 weeks of continuous service by that point, and to define the eight-week earnings window used to calculate average weekly pay.
The employee must notify their employer of their intention to take paternity leave no later than the end of the Qualifying Week. This notification must confirm the expected week of childbirth, whether one or two weeks of leave will be taken, and the intended start date. In practice, many employees give notice considerably earlier, which is both permissible and advisable.
Formal notification is typically made using Form SC3, which is available on GOV.UK. This self-certification document confirms the employee’s relationship to the child and their intention to take leave. It does not require a doctor’s letter or any external verification of the pregnancy. The employee completes it and submits it to their employer.
For leave taken in separate, non-consecutive blocks under rules introduced in 2024, the employee must give 28 days’ notice before each individual block begins.
The 2024 Flexibility Changes
Prior to 2024, employees taking Statutory Paternity Pay were required to take their entitlement as either one or two consecutive weeks. The two weeks had to be taken together, immediately following the birth.
From 2024, the rules were updated to allow more flexibility. Employees can now take their two weeks in separate, non-consecutive blocks within the first year following the birth. An employee might take one week immediately after the birth and use their remaining week several months later when their partner returns to work, for example.
The weekly payment for each block remains at the standard SPP rate. The requirement for 28 days’ advance notice applies to each block individually.
Statutory Pay Versus Enhanced Contractual Pay
The statutory rate represents the minimum the employer must pay an eligible employee. Some employers offer enhanced contractual paternity pay, which may bring the weekly payment closer to or up to the employee’s normal salary. This is a matter of the employment contract rather than a statutory obligation, and the terms will be set out in the employee handbook or the contract of employment.
Where an employer offers enhanced pay, the statutory entitlement is not paid separately on top of it. Instead, the enhanced payment satisfies the statutory obligation, provided it is at least equal to the SPP the employee would otherwise receive. An employee due SPP of £184.03 per week who receives an enhanced payment of £400 per week is receiving their statutory entitlement within the enhanced amount.
Employees should check their contract and staff handbook to understand whether an enhanced scheme applies to their situation.
Agency Workers and Zero-Hours Employees
Eligibility for SPP is not limited to employees on standard permanent contracts. Agency workers and those on zero-hours contracts may qualify, provided they meet the continuous employment and earnings thresholds.
The earnings calculation for variable-hours workers uses the same eight-week average as for salaried employees. Weeks with no earnings, whether due to no shifts being available or the employee being unavailable, are included in the calculation and will reduce the average. An employee with an inconsistent income who falls below the £123 weekly average across those eight weeks will not qualify on earnings grounds, regardless of their length of service.
Agency workers should notify their agency rather than the end client when giving paternity leave notice, as the agency is the relevant employer for SPP purposes.
Adoption and Surrogacy
The framework for Statutory Paternity Pay extends to families formed through adoption and surrogacy, though the reference dates differ.
For adoptive parents, the qualifying period is measured from the Matching Date, the date on which an adoption agency formally matches the individual with a child. The employee must notify their employer within seven days of being matched. Leave is then aligned with the Placement Date, which is the date the child comes to live with the adoptive family.
For surrogacy arrangements, the qualifying week is calculated from the surrogate’s due date in the same way as for a biological birth. The employee must intend to apply for a Parental Order following the birth in order to access paternity entitlements through this route.
In both cases, the payment rates and notice requirements mirror those that apply to biological parents.
Multiple Births
The SPP entitlement does not increase when more than one child is born or placed at the same time. Whether the birth results in twins, triplets, or a larger multiple, the entitlement remains two weeks of pay at the standard rate.
Child Benefit, which is separate from SPP and is administered differently, increases for each additional child. Families with multiple births should factor this into their financial planning rather than expecting an equivalent adjustment to paternity pay.
Self-Employed Individuals
Self-employed individuals are not eligible for Statutory Paternity Pay. SPP is funded through the employer’s PAYE scheme and tied to the employment relationship, which does not exist in self-employment.
One area where this becomes less straightforward is for directors of limited companies. A director who is also an employee of their own company and pays themselves through the company’s payroll may be eligible for SPP if they meet the qualifying criteria, including the earnings and continuous employment thresholds. Whether this applies depends on how the individual is paid and how the company is structured.
Self-employed individuals who do not qualify for SPP should consider whether other forms of government support, such as Universal Credit, may apply during the period they choose to reduce or pause their working activity.
Shared Parental Leave as an Alternative
For employees who want more than two weeks of paid leave following the birth or adoption of a child, Shared Parental Leave (SPL) provides a mechanism for extending that time. Under SPL, parents can share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of Statutory Shared Parental Pay between them during the first year.
To access SPL, the mother or primary adopter must curtail their own maternity or adoption leave entitlement early, freeing up the remaining weeks for the couple to divide. Both parents must meet separate eligibility criteria, including continuous employment and earnings tests with their respective employers. Leave can be taken in up to three separate blocks each, and the timing can be arranged to suit the family’s circumstances.
Statutory Shared Parental Pay is paid at the same weekly rate as SPP: £184.03 or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.
Employment Protections
An employee taking Statutory Paternity Pay and Paternity Leave retains their full employment rights throughout the period of absence. Upon returning to work, they are entitled to return to the same job on the same terms and conditions, including pay.
Statutory and contractual benefits continue to accrue during paternity leave. Annual leave entitlement, for example, continues to accumulate at the normal rate during the leave period.
Protection against detriment applies throughout. An employer cannot treat an employee less favourably, block a promotion, exclude them from selection, or include them in a redundancy selection process because they have taken or sought to take paternity leave. These protections apply equally regardless of whether the employee received the statutory minimum or an enhanced contractual rate.
If an Employer Refuses to Pay
Where an employer disputes an employee’s entitlement to SPP, they must provide written confirmation of their decision within 7 days of the request, using Form SPP1. This form sets out the reason for the refusal and the information the employee can use to challenge it.
An employee who believes they have been wrongly refused can contact HMRC’s Statutory Payment Dispute Team. HMRC will review the evidence, including payslips and employment records, and can formally require the employer to make the payment if the employee is found to qualify.
Employees should also be aware that the HMRC online paternity leave calculator can be used to verify eligibility independently before or after a dispute arises.
A Practical Note for Employers
Employers who pay SPP can recover a proportion of the cost through HMRC. Standard employers can reclaim 92% of SPP paid. Employers who qualify for Small Employers’ Relief, those whose total Class 1 National Insurance contributions in the preceding tax year were £45,000 or less, can reclaim 103% of the amount paid, the full 100% plus 3% compensation for associated National Insurance costs.
The reclaim is made through the Employer Payment Summary submitted to HMRC as part of the Real Time Information process. The amount reclaimed reduces the employer’s monthly PAYE liability.
Ensuring payroll records are accurate and that the EPS is submitted on time is essential for recovering these costs in the correct period.
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