In relation to a child, means a person by whom a child has been or is to be adopted.
This is when an individual or couple who live in the United Kingdom (UK) adopts a child from another country and the child enters Great Britain or Northern Ireland to live with the adoptive parents. The adoption does not involve the placement of the child for adoption under the law of any part of the United Kingdom.
To get OSPP the employee must have AWE of at least the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) which applies on the Saturday of the qualifying week (birth) or, for adoption, the matching week or official notification week. Details of how to work out AWE can be found in the E19 Employer Helpbook for Statutory Paternity Pay (PDF 269K).
Are any expense payments or benefits in kind that are included in a PAYE (Pay As You Earn) Settlement Agreement but that would ordinarily have attracted Class 1 National Insurance contributions (NICs) liability. Any earnings included in a PAYE Settlement Agreement are liable for Class 1B NICs.
You can delay OSPP if the notification is given outside the time limits and they do not accept there was good cause for delay.
A statement from the employee telling you that they are entitled to OSPP because they will be taking leave to support the child's mother or adoptive parent and also gives the dates for OSPP and leave.. Payment cannot be made without this declaration – There are different versions for birth and adoption. See either form SC3 Becoming a parent (PDF 79K), SC4 becoming an adoptive parent (PDF 97K) or SC5 evidence of entitlement to Ordinary Statutory Paternity Pay when adopting from abroad - declaration of family commitment (PDF 33K).
AWE should include all earnings paid in the 'set period' that attract a Class 1 NIC liability, or would but for the level of earnings and employees age. Including Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP), Ordinary Statutory Paternity Pay (OSPP), Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) and Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).
If your employee's earnings are lower than the LEL, you may need to add in enough of any earnings subject to Class 1B NICs within the set period to give an AWE of at least the LEL.
The date the child enters the United Kingdom to live with the adoptive parents. Your employee must tell you the date the child entered the UK within 28 days of entry.
This is the week beginning on a Sunday that includes the entry date.
Certificate signed by the adoption agency as proof that the employee has been matched with a child for adoption under UK law.
This is needed to work out the employee's entitlement to OSPP (adoption) and provides the 'matching date' when a child is being placed under UK Law.
The amount the employee is due to receive before any deductions are made.
Where it is not reasonably practicable for your employee to give you the statutory notice, they must do so as soon as it is. You must decide if there was a good reason for any delay in your employee notifying you. You should be flexible about notice because there is often very little time between the dates that, either the adopter is matched with the child and the date the child is placed (OSPP adoptions), or between the expected date of birth and the actual date of birth (OSPP birth). If this is the reason why the employee is late in giving you notice you must accept it.
If the employee doesn't notify the employer within:
they must accept that the notification is in time.
If the employee doesn't give you 28 days notice and there isn't good reason for delay, it may be possible for them to choose a later date so long as the OSPP is taken within 56 days of the date of birth, date of placement or date of entry.
Legal custody means detained, arrested or in prison. It doesn't include voluntarily helping the police with enquiries, serving a suspended sentence or being on bail. If your employee is taken into legal custody you should send them form OSPP1.
The length of time the employee must have worked for you to get OSPP and paternity leave is split into two conditions and both conditions must be met.
For OSPP (birth):
OSPP (adoption):
If either of these conditions is not satisfied they are not entitled to Ordinary Statutory Paternity Pay or leave. Details can be found in the E19 Employer Helpbook for Statutory Paternity Pay (PDF 269K).
This is the minimum level of earnings that an employee needs to qualify for OSPP.
For OSPP (adoption) it is the LEL which applies on the Saturday of the Matching Week (MW) that must be used.
For adoption from abroad it is the LEL which applies on the Saturday of the Official Notification Week (ONW) that must be used.
For OSPP (birth), it is the LEL which applies on the Saturday of the Qualifying Week (QW) that must be used.
Details of LEL can be found in the E19 Employer Helpbook for Statutory Paternity Pay (PDF 269K).
The date on which the employee has been matched with a child.
The week commencing the Sunday on or immediately prior to the matching leave date, and ending on the following Saturday.
For OSPP purposes these are the Class 1 NICs paid by employers and their employees. Both the employer and the employee must be liable to pay Class 1 NICs or would be but for the employee's level of earnings or age.
For OSPP recovery or funding purposes, they are the total gross employer's secondary plus all their employees' primary Class 1 NICs liability in all the employers PAYE schemes.
Time limits for notifying the employer of their intended dates for pay and leave. Where possible the employee should tell their employer 28 days before they want to start to be paid OSPP.
Written notification, issued by or on behalf of the relevant domestic authority, to an adopter that they have issued or are about to issue a Certificate of Eligibility to the authorities abroad, that the adopter has been assessed as suitable to adopt a child from abroad.
The week in which the employee received official notification that the Certificate of Eligibility has been or will be issued in relation to the adoption of a child from outside the UK.
Statutory Paternity leave can start on any day of the week, depending on when:
The employee has the right to choose when they want to take leave provided they give the employer 28 days notice and the chosen leave is completed within 56 days after the date the child is born or starting on the date the child is placed.
The date the child starts living with the person permanently with a view to being formally adopted in the future.
The qualifying tax year for deciding the LEL appropriate to an employee's average weekly earnings for OSPP entitlement is the tax year that applies on the Saturday of the employee's qualifying week, for OSPP birth, Matching Week (MW), for domestic adoptions or official notification week for adoptions from abroad.
The 'set period' (or relevant period) is needed to establish the earnings to be used and the number of days, weeks or months to divide those earnings by. All earnings paid in the 'set period' are divided by the number of days, weeks or months in that 'set period'.
Regulations define the 'set period' as the period between:
The employer should include all the earnings paid on, or after Date 2, up to and including those paid on Date 1.
The 'set period' ends with the last normal payday on, or before the end of the qualifying week, matching week or official notification week and starts with the last normal payday at least 8 weeks before that.
This form is used to tell your employee about the terms and conditions relating to OSPP (birth). It includes a statement for your employee to tell you about dates and leave with a declaration. You must have this declaration before you can make payment.
This form is used by you to tell your employee about the terms and conditions relating to OSPP (adoption). It includes a statement for the employee to make a declaration of family commitment and tells you about dates and leave. You must have this declaration before they can make payment.
This is evidence of entitlement to OSPP when adopting a child from abroad and includes the declaration of family commitment. It tells the employee about the terms and conditions relating to OSPP and paternity leave when adopting from abroad. It includes a statement for the employee to tell you about the dates for their leave and make a declaration of family commitment. You must have this declaration before you can make payments.
The qualifying tax year for deciding whether or not an employer is a small employer for recovery or advance funding of OSPP is the tax year immediately before the tax year in which the statutory payment has been made.
Details the reasons why you cannot pay your employee SSP and can also be used by an employee as evidence of their non-entitlement when applying to the relevant UK adoption authority or the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for any financial assistance during their absence from work for adoption purposes.
OSPP record sheet which you can use to maintain a record of payments made.
An amount of compensation paid to a small employer if their total annual Class 1 NIC liability is £45,000 or less in the 2009-10 or 2010-11 tax years. The compensation rate for both tax years is 4.5 per cent of the total OSPP paid to employees in each tax month.
The SER scheme enables small employers whose total gross Class 1 NICs under all their PAYE schemes, including primary (employee) and secondary (employer) liability, is at or below a set annual threshold (£45,000 or less in the 2009-10 or 2010-11 tax year) to recover 100 per cent of the OSPP paid plus an additional compensation payment.
The standard rate to pay for OSPP pay weeks starting on, or after 4 April 2010 is £124.88. The amount you actually pay to your employee's is the lesser of the standard rate and the earnings related rate which is 90 per cent of the employee's AWE for either one whole week or two whole consecutive weeks.
OSPP is a legal entitlement to a certain amount of pay to help a qualifying employee (male or female) take time off after a child is born or placed with an adopter or they adopt a child from abroad. It is available to an employee who is:
It is not available to someone who is a blood relative of the adopter such as the adopter's parent, grandparent, sister, brother, aunt or uncle.
Tax months start on the sixth of each month and finish on the fifth of each following month. The first tax month each year is 6 April to 5 May and is known as the April tax month.
Includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the various islands except it does not include the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.
For your employee to get OSPP for an adoption in UK the child must have been placed with an adopter under the UK domestic law covering adoption in the UK.
For working out OSPP entitlement and payment, a week is a period of seven days
Employees who work outside the UK during the matching week may be entitled to OSPP if you are still liable to pay employer's Class 1 NICs whilst they are working abroad, or would be but for their level of earnings or age.
