Statutory Paternity Pay Calculator 2026-27

Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) is paid for up to 2 weeks at the lower of £194.32 per week or 90% of your average weekly earnings for 2026/27. From April 2024, the two weeks can be taken as two separate one-week blocks at any time within 52 weeks of the birth or adoption placement, rather than consecutively. The old deadline was 56 days, so the flexibility is recent, and it is useful where one week is needed at the birth and another for a handover later.

To qualify for the pay, you must be the biological father, the mother's spouse or partner, or the intended parent in a surrogacy arrangement. You must also have worked continuously for your employer for at least 26 weeks by the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth and earn at least £129 per week on average. The leave is a separate question. Since 6 April 2026 (Employment Rights Act 2025) paternity leave has been a day-one right for babies due in or after the week beginning 5 April 2026, so a recent joiner can take the time off even where the pay does not follow.

SPP is subject to tax and National Insurance like normal earnings. Your employer can reclaim 92% of SPP from HMRC, or 109% for small employers, which is worth knowing if anyone suggests the cost falls squarely on the business. The calculator shows your weekly SPP next to your normal gross weekly earnings, and the total drop over the two weeks, so the size of the hit is visible before the fortnight arrives rather than after.

Plenty of employers pay more than the statutory minimum. Enhanced paternity pay usually means full pay for the 2 weeks, which is the norm across the public sector, including the civil service, the NHS and local government. A smaller number go further, with 4-6 weeks at full pay or full parity with maternity pay. Enhanced policies tend to sit in the staff handbook rather than in recruitment material, so read the contract before assuming the statutory rate is what you will get.

Shared Parental Leave is the more generous alternative where it fits the household. If the mother gives up some of her maternity leave and pay, the father or other parent can take up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay, at the same £194.32 per week. It suits couples where the mother earns more and wants to return to work sooner, or where the father wants a longer stretch at home, and it allows parents to overlap or alternate. Since 6 April 2026 paternity leave can also be taken after shared parental leave, not only before it. The notification rules are fiddly, requiring 8 weeks notice for each block and no more than 3 blocks per parent.

Antenatal appointments carry rights of their own. A pregnant employee is entitled to paid time off to attend them. Partners, whether married, in a civil partnership, cohabiting or the intended parents of a surrogate child, have a right to unpaid time off for up to two appointments per pregnancy, capped at 6.5 hours each. This sits on top of paternity leave rather than eating into it, and an employer who refuses to accommodate it risks a discrimination claim.