Maternity, paternity, adoption, sickness

In this section:

Statutory Paternity Pay: an overview

Your employee may be entitled to Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) if their partner has a baby or adopts a child. This replaces their normal earnings and helps them take time off to care for the child or support the mother.

As their employer, whether you have to pay them SPP depends on how long they've worked for you, how much they earn and when the baby is due or the date of adoption. They'll also have to provide you with a declaration covering family commitment and give you notice of when they want you to start paying their SPP.

Payments of SPP count as earnings. You must deduct tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) from them in the usual way.

You'll normally be able to recover some or all of the SPP you pay.

On this page:

SPP eligibility and rates - overview
Paternity leave
Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP)
Calculating and recovering SPP
SPP forms and records
If an employee disagrees with your SPP decision
Help and advice
More useful links

SPP eligibility and rates - overview

Your employee may be entitled to paternity leave and SPP if they have responsibility for their baby's upbringing and they're either:

the baby's biological father
the mother's husband or partner - including a female partner in a same sex couple

Where a couple adopts a child, the partner, male or female, who's not claiming Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) may be able to claim SPP.

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Paternity leave

Your employee is entitled to paternity leave if both of the following apply:

they've worked for you continuously for at least 26 weeks up to and into the 15th week before the date the baby's due, or the date an adopted child is expected to be placed
they continue to work for you until the date the baby is born, or the date the adopted child is placed

The date an adopted child is expected to be placed is shown on the matching certificate from the adoption agency.

Your employee is entitled to take one or two weeks' paternity leave within 56 days of the date of the baby's birth or the date an adopted child is placed with the adopter. They can't take odd days off and if they take two weeks they must take them together.

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Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP)

If your employee is entitled to paternity leave they may also be entitled to SPP for the period of their leave. They'll be entitled to SPP if they have average earnings at least equal to the NICs Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) - £95 a week or £412 a month for 2009-10.

Your employee should tell you that they'll be taking paternity leave by the 15th week before the date the baby's due, or within seven days of the date the adopter was told they'd been matched with a child. And they must give you 28 days' notice of when they want their SPP to start.

SPP rates

If your employee is entitled to SPP, you must pay them the lower of:

£123.06 - from 6 April 2009
90 per cent of their average weekly earnings

You'll be able to recover at least 92 per cent of the SPP you have to pay. If your total National Insurance payments are £45,000 or less a year, you'll be able to recover 104.5 per cent of the SPP you have to pay. This is to compensate you for the employer's NICs you have to pay on the SPP.

You can recover SPP by deducting it from your monthly PAYE (Pay As You Earn) payments. Or you can ask HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for funding in advance.

If your employee's earnings are below the LEL, or they're not entitled to SPP for some other reason, they may be able to get Income Support.

Get help with statutory payments funding

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Calculating and recovering SPP

HMRC’s guide on dealing with calculating and recovering SPP explains in detail how to calculate, pay and recover statutory pay. There’s a link to it at the end of this section.

If you use payroll software, it may help you decide if SPP is due and make the calculations for you. Or you can use HMRC’s free statutory pay calculator on your Employer CD-ROM or HMRC’s website. This will:

tell you if your employee's entitled to be paid SPP
work out how much SPP is due
work out how much SPP you can recover - including compensation, if you're entitled to it

Find out about calculating and recovering SPP

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SPP forms and records

There are various forms that you'll need to use for dealing with SPP.

Form SC3 Becoming a parent or Form SC4 Becoming an adoptive parent or Form SC5 Statutory Paternity Pay and paternity leave when adopting from abroad

You should use one of these forms to tell your employee about the terms and conditions that apply for SPP. Each form includes a tear-off statement where the employee must tell you about dates and leave. There is also a declaration they must sign confirming that they're entitled to paternity leave and SPP.

Bear in mind that although you can allow paternity leave without a signed statement you mustn't pay SPP without it.

Go to form SC3 Becoming a parent

Go to form SC4 Becoming an adoptive parent

Go to form SC5 Statutory Paternity Pay and paternity leave when adopting from abroad

Form SPP1 Why I cannot pay you SPP

If you determine that your employee isn't entitled to be paid SPP, you must tell them about your decision. You can do this using form SPP1.

Go to form SPP1 Why I cannot pay you SPP

Form SPP2 Statutory Paternity Pay record sheet

You'll need to keep a record of the SPP you pay and any changes in dates. You can use this form for keeping your record.

You can download of all HMRC paternity forms below.

You can also:

print them from you Employer CD-ROM
order them online through the forms ordering area of the HMRC website
order them by phone through the Employer Orderline on Tel 08457 646 646 or textphone 0800 959 598, open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm, Monday to Friday and from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm, Saturday, except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

Download form SPP2 Statutory Paternity Pay Record Sheet

Order forms online through HMRC’s forms ordering service

Record keeping

The records you'll need to keep include:

the declaration of family commitment, or a copy if you handed it back with form SPP1
the payment dates and amount paid - use form SPP2
the date the pay period began
any SPP that wasn't paid and the reason why

As well as recording payments on SPP2, you must also use the following to keep records of the payments of SPP you make and the amounts you recover:

form P11 or an equivalent employee payroll record (either electronic or paper) – if you’re using a paper form P11 complete column 1i and include the SPP in gross pay in column 2 for each week or month that you pay SPP
form P14 End of year summary - you only have to show the SPP paid to each employee in months when you recovered some or all of it
form P35 Employer Annual Return - you only have to show the total amount of SPP recovered in the year and any amount of NICs compensation you received

Remember that almost all employers are now required to file their Employer Annual Return (form P35 and forms P14) online to HMRC. For more information, including details of the exemptions that apply, follow the link below.

If you use the Simplified Deduction Scheme for domestic employees there are different forms to use:

P12 Simplified Deduction Card - if you're recovering some or all of the SPP, record all the payments of SPP you make to your employee each week or month
P37 Employer Annual Return

You must keep all these records for at least three years after the end of the tax year they relate to.

You can find out more about the forms you'll need for dealing with SPP and about using your own forms in the E19, ‘Employer Helpbook for Statutory Paternity Pay’. You'll also find information on record keeping.

Read E19, ‘Employer Helpbook for Statutory Paternity Pay’ (PDF 270K)

Find out about recording payments and deductions on form P11

Find out about completing forms P14 and P35

Read about the Simplified Deduction Scheme for domestic employees

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If an employee disagrees with your SPP decision

If you determine that your employee isn't entitled to SPP you must explain the reason for your decision to them. You can do this using form SPP1. Make a copy of your employee's declaration - form SC3 - and give the original back to them.

If your employee doesn't agree with you, they have the right to ask you for a written statement showing:

the days - if any - for which you think you should pay SPP
how much SPP you think your employee is entitled to
why you don't think you should pay SPP for other days in the pay period

Your employee can ask for a written statement at any time. If the request is reasonable you must give them the statement within a realistic time - for example, within seven days of being asked for it.

If you and your employee can't agree how much SPP you should pay, you can ask HMRC for guidance. You'll find the phone number to call in 'Help and advice' below. Your employee can also ask HMRC for a decision if you can't agree.

Download form SPP1

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Help and advice

You can find quick answers to the most commonly asked questions about SPP by following the link below.

Quick answers to common questions on SPP

If you still can't find what you need, you can ask a question through our email query service.

Use the SPP email query service

Alternatively you can get advice from our Employer Helpline on Tel 08457 143 143, open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm, Monday to Friday and from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm, Saturday and Sunday, except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

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