Paternity Pay

SPP eligibility - births

If the partner of one of your employees is having a baby, they will qualify for SPP if they have:

• been continuously employed by you for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth
• average weekly earnings (AWE) at or above the LEL for National Insurance Contributions (NICs), currently £123
• declared their eligibility for SPP by giving you a completed form SC3 at least 28 days before they want their SPP to start (or as soon as reasonably practical)

SPP rates and recovery

You must pay eligible employees the lower of:

• the standard weekly rate - £156.66
• 90 per cent of their AWE

As with SMP you can recover some or all of your SPP payments from HMRC, this is dependent on the size of your annual NICs liability.

For details on the paternity leave rules and SPP entitlement for adoptions please give us a call.