Terminology explained

Qualifying child

Eligible employees can only claim Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay for a child under the age of 18 who dies on or after 6 April 2020. This definition includes babies who are stillborn after the 24th week of pregnancy.

Relevant week

The ‘relevant week’ is the week, ending on a Saturday, immediately before the one in which the child died or was stillborn.

Before you begin

You need the following information to work out youran employees’employee’s Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay:

• the written declaration signed by your employee — form SPBP3 — or your own version if received
• the date of the child’s death or stillbirth
• the date your employee started, or wishes to start their Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay
• your employees’employee’s gross pay and the dates you paid them
• the date your employee started working for you

You also need confirmation that your employees’employee’s gross earnings:

• are liable to employer’s Class 1 National Insurance contributions
• would be liable but for their age or level of earnings

Calculate average weekly earnings

Average weekly earnings must include all earnings on which Class 1 National Insurance contributions:

• are due
• would be due if the earnings were high enough

Your employees’employee’s entitlement to Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay depends on their average weekly earnings in a ‘relevant period’.

For the tax year 20242025 to 2025,2026, their average weekly earnings in the relevant period must be £123£125 or more. To work out the employees’employee’s average weekly earnings, divide all the earnings paid in the relevant period by the number of days, weeks, or months in that period.

The relevant period

This is usually the 8-week period leading up to the relevant week. This will be the week before the week in which the child died.

The end of the relevant period is the last normal payday on, or before, the Saturday of the relevant week.

The start of the relevant period is the day after the last normal payday falling at least 8 weeks before the end of the relevant period.

Example for an employee who’s weekly paid where their child dies on 1211 April 2024:2025:

Relevant week	Payday	Last payday at least 8 weeks before the end of the relevant period	Last payday on or before the Saturday of the Relevant Week
3130 March 20242025 to 54 April 20242025	Friday	98 February 20242025	54 April 20242025

The relevant period is 109 February 20242025 to 54 April 2024.2025.

Add up all the earnings paid between 109 February 20242025 and 54 April 20242025 and divide by 8 (the number of weeks in the relevant period).

Do not round the figure up or down to whole pence.

Example for an employee who’s monthly paid and their child dies on 1211 April 2024:2025:

Relevant Week	Payday	Last payday at least 8 weeks before the end of the relevant period	Last payday on or before the Saturday of the Relevant Week
3130 March 20242025 to 65 April 20242025	Last working day of the month	3130 January 20242025	2928 March 20242025

The relevant period is 131 FebruaryJanuary 20242025 to 2922 March 2024.2025. You need to:

1. Add up all the earnings paid between 131 FebruaryJanuary 20242025 and 2928 March 2024.2025.
2. Divide by 2 (the number of months in the relevant period).
3. Multiply by 12 (number of months in the year).
4. Divide by 52 (number of weeks in the year).

Do not round the figure up or down to whole pence.

Weekly paid employees without a whole number of weeks in the relevant period

This may happen if you bring forward your employees’employee’s normal payday because of bank holidays, such as Easter or Christmas. Divide the earnings by the number of weeks wages actually paid, not the number of weeks in the relevant period.

Employees paid multiples of a week

This may happen if you pay your employee fortnightly or 4 weekly. Divide the earnings by the number of whole weeks in the relevant period.

Monthly paid employees without a whole number of months in the relevant period

Work out the number of rounded months as follows:

• count the number of whole months
• count the numbers of odd days

Round up or down as follows:

• February — 14 days or less round down, 15 days or more round up
• any month except February — 15 days or less round down, 16 days or more round up

Divide the earnings by this number of rounded months.

Employees not paid in a regular pay pattern

Divide the earnings by the number of days in the relevant period and multiply by 7.

Mistimed payments

This only applies to regular payments of earnings paid other than on their normal date. This can be due to a bank holiday.

A mistimed payment:

• occurs when the date of the actual payment of earnings is earlier or later than the normal contractual payday, such as an annual holiday
• should not be confused with a payroll error, where a mistake is made in the payroll resulting in a shortfall of pay, when working out the average weekly earnings in the relevant period

Divide the total earnings in the relevant period by the number of weeks wages were actually paid.

Overpayment or underpayment of earnings made during the relevant period

Always work out average weekly earnings on all earnings actually paid within the relevant period.

Where over or under payments of wages occur within the relevant period, include the overpaid or underpaid amount in the calculation to decide if Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay is due.

Salary sacrifice

If an employee has entered a salary sacrifice with you, their average weekly earnings are worked out using the amount of earnings actually paid to them, after the sacrifice during the relevant period.

Contractual benefits

Your calculation for Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay should only be based on earnings which are subject to Class 1 National Insurance contributions.

Do not include in the calculation any benefits which are exempt from Class 1 National Insurance contributions.

Earnings in the relevant period affected by a backdated pay rise

If your employee receives a backdated pay rise which increases the amount of earnings already paid in the relevant period, you need to recalculate their average earnings.

You should do this if the employee was either:

• not entitled to Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay
• entitled to Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay at less than the standard rate

You must recalculate their average weekly earnings to check if they are:

• now entitled, and pay any Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay due
• entitled to an increase, and pay any extra Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay due

Calculate Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay

Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay is a weekly payment. It lasts for 1 or 2 complete weeks.

Eligible employees can choose to take 2 consecutive weeks or 2 separate blocks of one week each. They can claim Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay for a week that they were absent from work.

Your employee must take their Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay within 56 weeks of their child’s death or stillbirth.

You must pay your employee the lower weekly rate of:

• £184.03£187.18 from 76 April 20242025
• 90% of their average weekly earnings

The Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay period starts the day after the last day your employee worked before starting their Parental Bereavement Leave.

Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay weeks start with the first day of the pay period — so a period which starts on a Wednesday, will have pay weeks within the pay period running from Wednesday to the following Tuesday.

Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay paid part-weekly

You can pay Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay as part weeks to help you align the payments to your employees’employee’s normal pay period.

You can split the weekly rate into 2 parts. If you do this, you will make the calculation on the basis of dividing the weekly rate by 7.

For example, the pay period for a monthly paid employee covers 2 days in April and 5 days in May. Their employer should pay them two-sevenths in April and five-sevenths in May.

Help and advice

You can get advice from HMRC Employer helpline.