By law, you must pay an employee SPP if they're eligible for it. Sage 50 Payroll calculates SPP values using the latest legislation for you.

If this is your employee's second child, check that their weeks paid SPP value is zero. Find out more in our SPP doesn't calculate for a second child article.

Process SPP

1. Double-click the relevant employee.
2. Go to the Absence tab and click the S.P.P button.
3. The Statutory Paternity Pay window opens on the Dates tab.
4. Enter the Baby Arrival Dates and check the Employment Dates are correct.
5. Ensure the Manual Statutory Paternity Pay Calculations checkbox is clear.
6. Under the Ordinary SPP details section, select the Declaration received checkbox to confirm you've received the correct documents.
7. Enter the Last Day of Work in the Week 1 row. This is the last day the employee worked, so it's the day before the first day of SPP.
8. Click OK, the message 'Are you entering two weeks of Statutory Paternity Pay for the employee?' appears:
   • If you are, click Yes and your software automatically adds the last day of work for Week 2 to follow Week 1
   • If the employee is taking the second week later, click No. Return to this screen when the employee takes the second week. Then enter the last Day of work for Week 2 to calculate it at the time
     
     TIP:

     The employee must take the second week within 52 weeks of the child's birth.

9. Click Auto Calc to calculate the employee's average weekly gross pay.
10. A prompt could appear that holiday payments made in or near the relevant period affect the average earnings, click OK.
11. To view the values that make up the average weekly gross pay, click the 8 Weeks Gross tab.
12. To check the employee's entitlement click the Entitlement tab. How to check an employee's Statutory Paternity Pay Entitlement.
13. Click OK, then click Save.
14. Click Close.

Pension contributions

When an employee receives statutory parental pay, you need to pay employer pension contributions based on their full pay, not the statutory payment.

To find out how, visit our how to handle employer pension contributions for employees receiving statutory pay article.

What's next

When you've set up SPP, your software calculates the SPP due for the employee up to the process date during each pay run.

You can see the amount due in the Summary tab of Enter Payments.

Employer Payment Summary

Submit an employer payment summary at the end of the tax month to notify HMRC of any SPP. Find out more on when to submit an employer payment summary (EPS)