Get help with statutory payments funding
If you need to provide Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) or Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) to an employee, these can usually be funded from the payroll deductions you’re due to send to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
However, if you don't have sufficient deductions available to cover your statutory payments, then you may be able to claim funding from HMRC to cover the balance. This guide explains how the funding process works and sets out the information you'll need to provide if making a claim.
On this page:
- Overview of the funding process
- Information you need to provide
- If your claim relates to the current tax year
- If your claim spans both the current and next tax years
- If your claim relates to a previous tax year
Overview of the funding process
If you're entitled to recover payments of SSP, SMP, SAP or SPP that you've made to an employee, then the usual way to do so is by reducing your monthly or quarterly payments to HMRC by the relevant amount. The payments you can reduce for this purpose are:
- PAYE (Pay As You Earn) tax
- National Insurance contributions (NICs)
- Student Loan deductions
- Construction Industry Scheme deductions
If you don't have sufficient deductions, now or over the coming months, to cover the amount of statutory payments you need to recover, then you can apply to HMRC for a payment to cover the balance. The steps involved in claiming are set out in the sections below.
Unsure whether you can recover your statutory payments?
If you haven't already established that you're entitled to reclaim your statutory payments from HMRC, use the links below to find out.
Information you need to provide
To apply for funding, you'll need to provide HMRC with information about your PAYE scheme and with details of the statutory payments that your claim relates to.
It's important to provide this information accurately, because errors in the information you submit may cause delays in the processing of your application.
Your application must include:
- your Accounts Office name (either Cumbernauld or Shipley)
- your Accounts Office reference (you'll find this on the cover of your P30BC payslip booklet or P30B letter)
- your PAYE reference (you'll also find this in your P30BC payslip booklet)
- your contact details - name, telephone number and email address
- the name and National Insurance number of the employee you made the statutory payments to
- the dates your claim relates to
- details of the total you're entitled to recover
- the amount of this total you're claiming funding for
- for SMP and SAP, the expected date of birth or adoption
- for SPP, the actual date of birth or adoption
If your claim relates to the current tax year
The easiest way to claim for the current tax year is to use our online forms. But you can also apply by post or fax.
Apply online
It's very important that you have all the relevant information to hand before you start to complete the online application, as you can't save your progress once you've started and return to it at a later time.
Choose the relevant online form you need from the following list:
- Apply for funding for Statutory Sick Pay
- Apply for funding for Statutory Maternity Pay
- Apply for funding for Statutory Paternity Pay
- Apply for funding for Statutory Adoption Pay
If you're claiming funding for payments to more than one employee, and
your claim relates to maternity, paternity or adoption pay, you'll need
to submit a separate form for each employee. However, the online form
for statutory sick pay allows you to submit the details for two employees
at a time.
HMRC aims to deal with online applications within four days of receiving
them. The email generated by the online form is secure, but our reply
to you is not. This reply will therefore only confirm that we have received
your claim - it will not contain any confidential information.
Apply by post or fax
To apply by post or fax, send a letter to your Accounts Office containing the information listed in the earlier section 'Information you need to provide'.
The contact details of the two Accounts Offices are as follows:
HMRC Accounts Office Shipley
Victoria Street
Shipley
West Yorkshire
BD98 8AA
Fax: 01274 539651
HMRC Accounts Office Cumbernauld
St Mungo's Road
Cumbernauld
Glasgow
G67 1YZ
Fax: 01236 785251
If your claim spans both the current and next tax years
If your claim relates to a period that begins in this tax year and runs into the following one, you can still claim either online or by post or fax, as explained in the previous sections.
It's important that when applying you include two sets of starting and finishing dates for the claim - one for each tax year. The online form for claims relating to maternity pay allows you to submit the dates for both tax years on the same form. However, if your claim relates to sick pay, paternity pay or adoption pay, you'll need to submit a separate online form for both tax years.
With claims of this sort that cover two tax years, funding will be issued in two instalments. HMRC aims to send a payment relating to the current tax year within four days of receiving your claim. The balance will then follow as soon as possible once the new tax year begins.
If your claim relates to a previous tax year
If your claim relates to a previous tax year you cannot apply for funding online. The procedure to follow depends on whether or not you’ve already made the statutory payment to your employee.
If you’ve already made the payment to your employee
To claim funding in this circumstance, complete a form SP32 and send it to the following address:
HM Revenue & Customs
National Insurance Contributions Office
CORT Multi-erroneous
Room BP1001
Benton Park View
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE98 1ZZ
If you have not yet made the payment to your employee
To claim funding in this circumstance, send a letter to your Accounts Office containing the information listed in the earlier section ‘Information you need to provide’.
The contact details of the two Accounts Offices are as follows:
HMRC Accounts Office Shipley
Victoria Street
Shipley
West Yorkshire
BD98 8AA
Fax: 01274 539651
HMRC Accounts Office Cumbernauld
St Mungo’s Road
Cumbernauld
Glasgow
G67 1YZ
Fax: 01236 785251
