If the employee meets all qualifying conditions, as an employer, you're obliged to pay the statutory rate of statutory adoption pay (SAP).

Once you set it up, your software calculates SAP payments, and tracks what you've paid.

Process SAP

1. Click Payroll, then Change Process Date.
2. Enter the required process date, then click OK.
3. Select the required employee, then click Employee.
4. Click Recording Adoption.
   • Sometimes a message appears advising that you've already paid SAP to this employee. To record details for another child, click Yes
5. If the employee has given you the suitable matching evidence, select this checkbox.
6. Enter the expected matched and placed dates.
7. To check the employee's entitlement, click Check Entitlement.
8. Enter the date the employee last worked before starting their adoption leave.
9. Enter the actual placement date.
10. If the employee chooses to end their adoption leave and return to work early, enter the date they return to work.
11. If applicable, click Special Circumstances and complete the relevant information.
12. Click OK.
13. To check the employee's earnings, click Earnings during set period.
14. Click OK.
15. Check the key dates and if required, print the form using the link.
16. Click Save.

Check the employee's entitlement

1. From the Qualifying Conditions area, check that all the conditions have a green tick beside them.

   If a red cross appears against any of them, the employee doesn't satisfy the qualifying conditions for SAP:

   Evidence Received	You haven't selected the Matching Evidence Received checkbox.
   Worked Long Enough	Continuous employment with you for the 26 weeks up to and continuing into the matching week.
   Earned Enough	The employee's average weekly earnings in the set period are below the NI LEL.

   If the employee doesn't qualify for SAP, you must give them form SAP1.

2. From the Entitlement due area, check the employee's SAP entitlement as follows:

   Standard Rate Current Year	This displays the entitlement at the standard legislation rate.  If this spans two tax years, the weeks in each tax year appear separately as: Standard Rate Prv.Yr Standard Rate Current Year They show the applicable rates for each tax year.

3. Click Save, then Close.

When you open Enter Payments to process your employees' pay for the period, the SAP calculates automatically, up to your current process date.

You If required, adjust the employee's normal payments for the period.

Submit an employer payment summary (EPS) at the end of the tax month to notify HMRC of any SAP you're reclaiming.

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 the handling employer pension contributions for employees receiving statutory pay article.