When an employee's partner is having a baby, the employee may qualify for Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP).

Eligibility

To qualify for SPP an employee must:

• Have been continuously employed by you for the 26 weeks up to and including the qualifying week. They must still be employed up to the date of birth
• Provide HMRC form SC3 at least 15 weeks before the baby is due
• Have average weekly earnings in the eight weeks before the qualifying week at or above the current national insurance (NI) lower earnings limit (LEL). For the[BCB:245:UKI Payroll Current tax year:ECB]tax year this is[BCB:244:UKI Payroll LEL value:ECB]
• Take time off to look after the child and be one of the following:
• The child's biological father
• The mother's spouse, civil partner or a partner (including same-sex partners) who lives with the mother and child in an enduring family relationship

If your employee isn't eligible to receive SPP, you must give them form SPP1 >

You can find further information about eligibility for SPP at Gov.uk >

Entitlement

For employees who qualify, SPP is payable for one or two weeks. From the 2024/25 tax year, employees can take these two weeks separately, up to 52 weeks after the child's birth.

The employee can take seven or 14 days of paid leave as two separate periods of seven days, or one period of 14 days. They can't, for example, take a period of five days and a later period of nine days.

For more information on the changes, visit our Changes to Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) and SPP Adoption pay (SPPA) guide.

• The statutory weekly rate for SPP is the lower of[BCB:246:UKI Payroll Statutory weekly rate:ECB], or 90% of the employee's average weekly earnings

If the employee meets all qualifying conditions, as an employer you need to pay the statutory rate of SPP. Whether you pay any further wages on top of the statutory requirement depends on the employee's contract of employment. You're under no statutory obligation to pay anything further.

For more information about SPP entitlement, visit Gov.uk - Paternity pay and leave >