The employee must complete and provide you with one of the following forms. The forms give employees the terms and conditions relating to SPP and paternity leave:

• SC3 Becoming a birth parent
• SC4 Becoming an adoptive parent
• SC5 Adopting a child from abroad

The employee must complete the declaration and give it to you at least 28 days before the start of payment. You can’t pay SPP if the employee hasn't supplied the declaration.

Access downloadable forms from the HMRC website. Statutory pay forms.

For more information on SPP, read Statutory Paternity Pay and Leave: employer guide.

To qualify

• Your employee must have worked for you continuously for 26 weeks up to and including the qualifying week. You must still employ them up to the date of birth or placement of the child

• The employee’s average weekly earnings (AWE) in the eight weeks before the qualifying week is at least £123 (2024/25) or £125 (2025/26).

• SPP birth – Must be the baby’s biological father. The person is either married to or in a civil partnership with the baby’s mother. Can also be living with the mother in an enduring family relationship. Can't be an immediate relative
• SPP adoption – Requires a prescribed relationship with the child. A prescribed relationship with the person responsible for the child is necessary

The employee should give you at least 28 days notice of when they want SPP to start. They need a good reason for notifying you later than that.

Employee doesn’t qualify

If your employee doesn’t qualify, you must give them form SPP1 - Ordinary Statutory Paternity Pay: non-payment explanation. You can access this from the HMRC website Statutory Paternity Pay: non-payment explanation (SPP1)

Read more about processing SPP in Sage payroll.