Money Worked Out

Statutory Paternity Pay calculator

Enter your average weekly earnings and whether you are taking one week or two. The calculator shows the Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) for each week and in total under the 2026/27 rates, and tells you if the earnings test rules it out.

Statutory Paternity Pay

£388.64

£194.32 a week for 2 weeks, before tax

Your details

Before tax, over the 8 weeks before the qualifying week

Take 1 or 2 weeks, together or apart

Worked for this employer continuously up to the qualifying week

Statutory Paternity Pay
A week£194.32
Weeks2
Total£388.64
How this was worked out
  1. Weekly amount: the lower of £194.32 and 90% of average weekly earnings = £194.32
  2. Total: 2 × £194.32 = £388.64

What the calculator assumes

How SPP is worked out

SPP is paid at a flat weekly rate of £194.32, or a share of your average weekly earnings if that comes to less. The share is the same one used for the later weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay. The calculator works out both figures and uses the lower, then multiplies it by the number of weeks you choose.

Unlike maternity pay, SPP has no higher rate for the first weeks. If you earn well above the flat rate, both weeks are paid at the flat rate. If your earnings are low enough that the share comes to less, both weeks are paid at that smaller figure.

You can take one week or two. The two weeks can run together, or you can take them as two separate weeks. Twins do not double it: you get the same leave for more than one child from the same birth. A week of leave is the number of days you usually work in a week, so if you work two days a week, one week of leave is two days.

Who can get it

SPP has an earnings test and a service test. For the earnings test, your average weekly earnings before tax must reach the weekly lower earnings limit for National Insurance. If the figure you enter is below it, the calculator shows that SPP is not due. The weekly figure is on the statutory pay rates page.

For the service test, you must have worked for your employer without a break up to the qualifying week, a week some months before the baby is due. The GOV.UK eligibility page linked below gives the length of service and which week counts. The calculator asks you whether you meet this test, because it depends on your dates of work.

Paternity leave has fewer conditions than the pay. You can take the leave from your first day in a job if you are an employee and give the right notice. If you do not qualify for the pay, your employer must tell you why on form SPP1.

You must be taking the time off to care for the child and be the father, the mother's husband or partner, the child's adopter, or an intended parent through surrogacy. SPP comes from an employer, so self-employed people cannot get it. Adoption follows different dates, and Northern Ireland has its own rules for leave.

What it leaves out

The Statutory Maternity Pay calculator covers the mother's pay, which works out its first weeks in a different way. For a normal week's pay after deductions, use the take-home pay calculator. Every figure here comes from GOV.UK, and the sources page shows where.

Official guidance

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