Manually calculate your employees' Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay
Use this guidance if your payroll software or Basic PAYE tool does not calculate your employees' payments.
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 your employees’ 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’ gross pay and the dates you paid them
- the date your employee started working for you
You also need confirmation that your employees’ 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’ entitlement to Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay depends on their average weekly earnings in a ‘relevant period’.
For the tax year 2024 to 2025, their average weekly earnings in the relevant period must be £123 or more. To work out the employees’ 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 12 April 2024:
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 March 2024 to 5 April 2024 | Friday | 9 February 2024 | 5 April 2024 |
The relevant period is 10 February 2024 to 5 April 2024.
Add up all the earnings paid between 10 February 2024 and 5 April 2024 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 12 April 2024:
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 March 2024 to 6 April 2024 | Last working day of the month | 31 January 2024 | 29 March 2024 |
The relevant period is 1 February 2024 to 29 March 2024. You need to:
- Add up all the earnings paid between 1 February 2024 and 29 March 2024.
- Divide by 2 (the number of months in the relevant period).
- Multiply by 12 (number of months in the year).
- 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’ 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 from 7 April 2024
- 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’ 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.
Last updated 6 April 2024 + show all updates
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The rate of weekly earnings needed to be eligible for Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay in the 2024 to 2025 tax year has been added. The examples in this guide have been updated.
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The new rates for working out Average Weekly Earnings and Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) for 2023 to 2024 have been added.
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The date used in examples to workout average weekly earnings has been amended.
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The new rates for working out Average Weekly Earnings and Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) for 2022 to 2023 have been added. The section on 'Employees who were on furlough under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)' has been removed because calculations for SPBP from April onwards will not include any periods where furlough pay was in operation.
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Information added on how to work out Average Weekly Earnings for employees furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
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First published.