Manually calculate a Northern Ireland based employee's Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay

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 2026. 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 bereavement occurred.

Qualifying criteria

Employees can only claim Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay using the new earnings calculation:

• from day one of their employment
• where necessary using expected normal weekly earnings.

Employees can claim:

• for a child under the age of 18 who dies on or after 6 April 2026
• where the employee has experienced a miscarriage and has become aware of it
• where they are eligible because of their relationship to a woman who has experienced a miscarriage

Miscarriage

This means the:-

• spontaneous loss of a pregnancy before the completion of 24 weeks of gestation
• loss of a pregnancy because of a medical intervention following assessment by a medical professional, that was:
  • necessary to protect the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman
  • to address a fatal foetal abnormality or a severe foetal impairment

Relevant window

The relevant window is a 16 week period the employee uses to work out their eligibility to Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay.

The first 8 weeks of the relevant window uses actual weekly earnings and ends with the relevant week.

The second 8 weeks of the relevant window uses expected normal weekly earnings, the first week of which is the week of bereavement.

The week of bereavement is a combination of:

• normal weekly earnings

• expected weekly earnings

Expected weekly earnings can only be used after the child’s date of death or the miscarriage occurs.

Before you begin

You need the following information to work out an 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, or the date the woman who experienced miscarriage became aware of it
• the date your employee started, or wants to start their Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay
• the date your employee started working for you
• your employee’s earnings for the 8 weeks before the week of the bereavement
• your employee’s expected earnings for the period up to the 8 weeks following the bereavement

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

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

Qualifying earnings period

The qualifying earnings period is any continuous 8 week period within the relevant window. Each week beginning on a Sunday and ending on a Saturday.

If an employee has 8 weeks of normal weekly earnings that meet the Lower Earnings Limit and results in the higher rate of Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay being payable. You can use this simplified method to avoid the need for further checks.

To decide whether to use normal, expected or a combination of weekly earnings, you should consider the employees situation. Such as:

• do they have 8 weeks of normal weekly earnings
• has their pay reduced during those 8 weeks
• is this their first day or week of employment with you
• have they recently started the job and do not yet have 8 weeks of normal weekly earnings
• do you need to calculate their earnings using expected weekly earnings for all or part of the 8-week window

An employee may rely on 8 continuous weeks of:

• actual weekly earnings ending with the relevant week
• a mix of actual and expected earnings in the relevant window
• earnings after the relevant week, which includes the week of bereavement.

Use the full week of bereavement to work out earnings by either using :

• actual pay, if available
• expected pay
• then use expected earnings for the remaining 7 weeks.

The week of bereavement is the only week where both actual and expected earnings are considered together. Excluding the week of the bereavement, a week of earnings in the qualifying earnings period must be either actual or expected, a week must not be a combination of both.

Earnings affected by a backdated pay rise

If your employee receives a backdated pay rise which increases the amount of earnings already paid in the qualifying earnings 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 earnings

Calculating normal weekly earnings

Treat earnings as earned in the week they were due, even if they are to be paid later.  

If the employee:

• is paid weekly, use the amount earned in each week as their weekly earnings
• is paid monthly or at another interval, work out what they earned in each week of the qualifying earnings period — use your payroll records or the employee’s contract to work out the amount
• worked during a week in the qualifying earnings period but has not been paid, work out the amount they are owed and treat it as normal weekly earnings

Statutory payments must always be included as earnings when you work out average weekly earnings. If an employee receives any statutory payment during the 8-week period, it must be included. Employers cannot ignore these payments or replace them with what the employee would normally earn. Statutory payments must be treated as earnings. If a week in the 8-week period is unusual or does not reflect the employee’s normal earnings pattern, you can use expected earnings for any week after the relevant week.

Calculating expected weekly earnings

When working out any part of the qualifying earnings period based on expected earnings, you can use:

• the terms set out in the employee’s contract of employment
• any regular pattern that is expected or has been established before the qualifying earnings period
• any pay rise or change in working hours that has been agreed or is expected to take effect during the qualifying earnings period
• any other reasonable assumptions about the employee’s continued employment and earnings — this includes where employment is expected to end but, for the purposes of this calculation will continue

You must not include any payment of Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay that would be made as a result of this application when calculating expected 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
• any expected earnings being considered within the relevant qualifying earnings period

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

For the tax year 2026 to 2027, their average weekly earnings in the qualifying earnings period must be £129 or more.

To work out the employee’s average weekly earnings, work out if:

• only normal weekly earnings are available within the qualifying earnings period
• only expected weekly earnings are available within the qualifying earnings period
• a combination of both normal weekly earnings and expected weekly earnings are to be used in the calculation

 Then add all of their earnings together for each week, then divide by 8.

If an employee has been continuously employed for 26 weeks or more and experiences a stillbirth or the death of a child, you can:

• confirm the employee has eight consecutive weeks of normal actual weekly earnings that meet the Lower Earnings Limit.

Employers should record any of these types of cases in the SPBP field (not SPBPNIRE) in your Employer Payment Summary (EPS) or Full Payment Summary (FPS) submissions.

Overpayment or underpayment of earnings made during the qualifying earnings period

Always work out average weekly earnings on all earnings within the qualifying earnings period.

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

Allocation of earnings to a week being used in the calculation

Always count earnings in the week they were earned or due, even if they are paid earlier or later. Mistimed payments are simply allocated back to the correct week. If a payment was missed because of a payroll error, it can still be treated as earnings for that week once both the employer and employee confirm it was genuinely 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 paid to them, after the sacrifice during the qualifying earnings 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 qualifying earnings 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 qualifying earnings 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

If a backdated pay rise affects what their expected normal weekly earnings should be:

• you should recalculate  the expected normal weekly earnings,  as if the pay rise was in effect

Only recalculate the expected earnings as they were deemed to be expected at the time after the relevant week. Do not at this time use the actual earnings which were eventually earned in the qualifying earnings period.

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 the:

• child’s death
• Stillbirth
• date on which the woman experienced or became aware of the miscarriage

You must pay your employee the lower weekly rate of:

• £194.32 from 6 April 2026
• 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 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.

Employees not paid in a regular pay pattern (both normal weekly earnings and expected normal weekly earnings)

Some employees are not paid in a regular weekly pattern. This can include employees who are paid monthly, annually, or who have variable or fluctuating earnings.

When calculating Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay for these employees, the timing or frequency of paydays is not relevant. You must always:

• work from the date of bereavement;
• identify the relevant week
• determine a continuous 8 week qualifying earnings period within the relevant window

A week is always treated as Sunday to Saturday, regardless of how or when the employee is paid.

For normal weekly earnings, treat earnings as earned in the week to which they relate. For employees paid monthly or annually, work out what earnings relate to each week in the qualifying earnings period. Your payroll records, timesheets, or the employee’s contract should help you do this.

If an employee has less than 8 weeks of normal weekly earnings, or their earnings are irregular or incomplete, you can use expected normal weekly earnings for some or all the qualifying earnings period. Expected earnings should be based on reasonable assumptions, including:

• contracted pay or hours
• previous patterns of work or earnings
• agreed or reasonably expected changes to pay or hours
• any other information that gives a fair indication of what the employee would normally have earned

Paydays do not determine whether earnings are normal or expected. Earnings must always be assigned to the weeks in which they are earned or reasonably expected to be earned.

When using expected earnings, a week in the qualifying earnings period must be treated as either normal or expected, not a combination of both except for the earnings in the week of the bereavement.

This approach ensures employees who are not paid on a regular weekly cycle are assessed fairly and consistently when determining eligibility and calculating Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay.

Examples of Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay calculations

Do not round the average weekly earnings figures up or down to whole pence.

Example for an employee where their eligible bereavement occurs on 10 April 2026 using normal weekly earnings only. The total earnings in the 8 week qualifying period are £3457.36:

Date of bereavement	Relevant week	First week of actual weekly earnings	Average weekly earnings
10 April 2026	29 March to 4 April 2026	8 February to 14 February 2026	£432.17

Example for an employee where their eligible bereavement occurs on 9 April 2026, using expected normal weekly earnings and partial actual earnings for the week of the bereavement. Total earnings in the 8 week qualifying period worked out by considering how much the employee earned in each week and using reasonable assumptions for the expected income are £2850:

Date of bereavement	Week of bereavement	Last week of expected normal weekly earnings	Average weekly earnings
9 April 2026	5 April to 11 April 2026	24 May to 30 May 2026	£356.25

Example for an employee where their eligible bereavement occurs on 8 April 2026 using a combination of 7 weeks normal weekly earnings and 1 week of expected normal weekly earnings. They are in a contract of employment which is assumed to be likely to continue beyond the qualifying earnings period. The 7 weeks normal earnings were worked out by considering how much the employee earned in each week totalling £1946. The 1 week expected earnings were worked out by considering how much the employee would earn in each week using reasonable assumptions to determine the expected income. In this case the expected normal weekly earnings were based upon contracted hours and rate of pay totalling £278:

Date of bereavement	Relevant week	First week of actual normal weekly earnings	Week of bereavement	Combined earnings across the 8 week period	Average weekly earnings
8 April 2026	29 March to 4 April 2026	15 February to 21 February 2026	5 April to 11 April 2026	£2224	£278

Help and advice

You can get advice from HMRC Employer helpline.