Minimum Wage and Statutory Pay Obligations

4. Paternity Pay

4.1 Fathers (or those with responsibility for bringing up children) are entitled to take paid time off at or around the time of the child's birth. Those employees who qualify for paternity leave are entitled to statutory paternity pay (SPP).

• SPP is for either one or two consecutive weeks as specified by the employee.
• The rate of SPP is £117.18 a week or 90 per cent of average pay, if lower.
• Employees who have weekly earnings below the lower earnings limit for National Insurance purposes (£90 a week) do not qualify for SPP.
• As with SMP, the employer pays and recovers the money by offsetting the amount against NI contributions.