How does an employee or worker qualify for Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP)?

Both employees and temporary workers may be entitled to Statutory Paternity Pay SPP (despite temporary workers not being eligible for paternity leave).

Employees/workers need to:

• Have (or expect to have) responsibility for the child’s upbringing;
• Be the biological father of the child or the mother’s spouse, civil partner or partner;
• Have worked continuously for 26 weeks leading into the 15th week before the week the baby is due, the Qualifying Week (“QW”)
• Remain in continuous employment with you from the end of the QW up to the date of birth of the child;
• Intend at the start of the Paternity Pay Period to care for the child or support the mother;
• Have average weekly earnings* of at least the lower earnings limit for National Insurance purposes which applies at the end of the 15th week before the week the baby is due;
• Give you notice of when he expects the liability to pay SPP to in or before the 15th week before the week the baby is due. Where the employee / worker needs to vary the date on which they have chosen their SPP to begin, the employee needs to give his employer 28 days’ notice before the first day of the expected week of the child’s birth where the new date to begin SPP is the day of the child’s birth.

* Average weekly earnings are worked out over a period of at least eight weeks up to and including the last normal pay day on or before the Saturday of the 15th week before the week the baby is due. All the pay the employee/worker got in that period must be taken into account. Pay means earnings which are liable for Class 1 NICs, or earnings which would be liable if they were high enough.