In this section:
Your employee may be entitled to Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (ASPP) if their partner has a baby or adopts a child and is entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Maternity Allowance (MA) or Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP). ASPP replaces normal earnings and you must deduct tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) in the normal way.
ASPP allows parents more flexibility when arranging time-off to care for children. It applies for any employees who have babies due or are matched with a child for adoption on or after 3 April 2011. For overseas adoptions the child has to enter the UK on or after 3 April 2011.
ASPP is payable in addition to any Ordinary Statutory Paternity Pay (OSPP) available. Whether, as their employer, you must pay your employee ASPP depends on how long they have worked for you, how much they earn and when the baby is due to be born or adopted. They will also have to provide you with a declaration of their eligibility and give you notice on when they want you to start paying their ASPP.
You'll normally be able to recover some or all of the ASPP you pay.
On this page:
You should check if your employee is eligible for additional paternity leave (APL) and ASPP. If so your employee should complete the relevant form - see the forms section in this guide - or let you have written confirmation of the same information at least eight weeks before your employee wishes to start their ASPP.
If you need help with checking your employee’s eligibility there's a checksheet ASPP 3 which you can use.
Once you are clear they are eligible for ASPP, you then need to calculate how much to pay. There's more about this later in this guide.
Full details of the qualifying conditions for APL and pay can be found on the Business Link website.
Download the ASPP Checksheet - to help determine eligibility
ASPP isn't normally paid until the child is 20 weeks old. There is one exception to this - if the mother or adopter dies ASPP can be paid immediately following a mother's death.
The normal eligibility rules apply but with the following differences:
The employee applying for ASPP should give you a signed declaration, SC10 or equivalent, as soon as possible after the mother or adopter’s death. Providing a written declaration is received within eight weeks of the mother or adopter’s death, then that declaration can request ASPP to start on any date, as long as the date is not before the date of the mother or adopter’s death.
If you do not receive a signed declaration, or equivalent, within eight weeks of the mother' or adopter’s death, ASPP can not start until six weeks after declaration is given.
Even if your employee notifies you verbally or in some other way they must formalise it, using a signed declaration, SC10 or equivalent, within eight weeks of the mother or adopter’s death.
You'll find details of all the forms associated with ASPP in the 'ASPP forms and records section' below
HMRC's guide on how to calculate and recover ASPP explains in detail how to calculate, pay and recover ASPP. There's a link to it at the end of this section. This includes some tools and calculators to support you.
How to calculate and recover Additional Statutory Paternity Pay
There are a number of forms supporting ASPP.
This is the form that your employee gives to you, to apply for ASPP, if they are a parent of a child. This form will tell your employee about the terms and conditions that apply for ASPP. There is also a declaration on the form that they and the mother of the child must sign confirming that they are entitled to additional paternity leave and ASPP.
Go to form SC7 Declaration - ASPP and APL becoming a parent
This is the form that your employee gives to you, to apply for ASPP, if they have jointly adopted a child. This form will tell your employee about the terms and conditions that apply for ASPP. There is also a declaration on the form that they and the joint adopter of the child must sign confirming that they are entitled to additional paternity leave and ASPP.
Go to form SC8 Declaration - ASPP and APL becoming an adoptive parent
This is the form that your employee gives to you, to apply for ASPP, if they have adopted a child. This form will tell your employee about the terms and conditions that apply for ASPP. There is also a declaration on the form that they and the joint adopter of the child must sign confirming that they are entitled to additional paternity leave and ASPP.
Go to form SC9 Declaration - ASPP and APL adopting a child from abroad
This is the form that your employee gives to you, to apply for ASPP, in the event of the death of the mother or adopter.
This form will tell your employee about the terms and conditions that apply for ASPP. There is also a declaration on the form that they must sign confirming that they're entitled to APL and ASPP.
Go to form SC10 Declaration - ASPP in the event of the death of the mother/adopter
The records you'll need to keep include:
Go to form ASPP 2 - Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (ASPP) Record Sheet
As well as recording payments on ASPP2, you must also use the following to keep records of the payments of ASPP you make and the amounts you recover:
If you use the Simplified Deduction Scheme for domestic employees, there are different forms to use:
You must keep all these records for at least three years after the end of the tax year they relate to.
Payroll calculations and records: an introduction
File your Employer Annual Return: P35 and P14s
Simplified PAYE for domestic employees
If you determine that your employee isn't entitled to be paid ASPP, you must tell them your decision and the reasons for it. You must do this within 28 days of receiving your employee's request. You can do this using form ASPP1.
Where you have already started to make payments of ASPP and before the end of the pay period you decide your employee is no longer entitled to any further payments of ASPP you must:
You must do this within 7 days of entitlement ending. You can do this using from ASPP1.
Also make a copy of your employee's declaration - form SC7, SC8, SC9 or SC10 or equivalent - and give the original back to them with any other evidence they provided you with.
Go to form ASPP1 Non-payment of ASPP
If you and your employee can't agree on whether or not you should pay ASPP, you can ask HMRC for advice by calling the Employer Helpline - you'll find a link to their contact details in 'Help and advice' below. Your employee can also ask HMRC for a decision if you can't agree.
You'll find detailed guidance in the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) publication E19, 'Employer Helpbook for Ordinary and Additional Statutory Paternity Pay' .
Download E19, 'Employer Helpbook for Ordinary and Additional Statutory Paternity Pay' (PDF 643K)
If you still can't find what you need, you can ask a question through HMRC's email query service. HMRC aims to respond to email queries, or contact you for more information, within two working days.
Send an email query – ASPP birth
Alternatively you can get advice from HMRC's Employer Helpline, especially if your query relates to an adoption.
Find contact details for HMRC's Employer Helpline
If your employee needs help to decide if they are eligible to apply, they can find it on the Directgov website.
Find advice for employees on the Directgov website (Opens new window)
