Shared Parental Leave vs Paternity Pay: What UK Fathers Need to Know

When a baby arrives, working fathers and partners in the UK face a choice that sounds similar but works quite differently in practice. Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) gives you up to two weeks of paid leave at a fixed weekly rate. Shared Parental Leave (SPL) lets eligible parents split up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay between them, potentially replacing some of the mother's maternity leave. The right option depends on your earnings, your partner's plans, and how much time you both want at home in the first year.

This article compares the two schemes side by side, explains who qualifies, and shows how the money works with real salary figures. Use our paternity pay calculator to estimate your SPP before you decide whether to take standard paternity leave or opt into shared parental leave instead.

What Statutory Paternity Pay gives you

SPP is the simpler route. If you qualify, you can take one or two consecutive weeks of paternity leave and receive Statutory Paternity Pay for that period. For 2025/26, the weekly rate is £187.18 or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. The payment is flat for higher earners because 90% of a £50,000 salary works out to roughly £865 per week, but the statutory cap means you still receive only £187.18.

A father earning £35,000 per year has average weekly earnings of about £673. Ninety per cent of that is roughly £606, so the statutory cap applies and he receives £187.18 per week. Over two weeks, that is £374.40 in total SPP. Someone on £20,000 per year earns about £385 per week. Ninety per cent is roughly £346, still above the cap, so they also receive £187.18 per week. Only very low earners receive less than the headline rate because 90% of their pay falls below £187.18.

SPP is paid by your employer, who reclaims most of it from HMRC. It is subject to Income Tax and National Insurance in the same way as normal salary. To see how paternity pay sits alongside your usual take-home pay, run your gross salary through a UK salary calculator and compare the weekly figures.

How Shared Parental Leave works

Shared Parental Leave is more flexible but comes with more conditions. The mother (or primary adopter) must end her maternity leave early and convert the remaining balance into shared parental leave. Parents can then split up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of shared parental pay between them. The leave can be taken in blocks rather than one continuous stretch, and both parents can be off work at the same time if their employer agrees.

Shared parental pay follows the same weekly rate as SPP and the lower-rate maternity pay period: £187.18 or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. It does not include the enhanced 90% uncapped rate that applies to the first six weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay. If the mother has already used 39 weeks of maternity pay, only the remaining shared parental pay weeks are available, up to the 37-week combined limit for shared parental pay.

A worked example: SPP vs SPL

Imagine a couple where the mother plans to return to work after 26 weeks of maternity leave. She has used 26 weeks of her 52-week maternity leave entitlement and 26 weeks of her 39-week maternity pay entitlement. That leaves 26 weeks of leave and 13 weeks of pay that can be shared. The father could take two weeks of standard paternity leave with SPP and then take further shared parental leave, or he could skip paternity leave entirely and use SPL from the start.

If the father takes two weeks of SPP and then 10 weeks of shared parental pay, he receives £187.18 per week for 12 weeks, totalling £2,246.16 before tax. If he instead takes 12 weeks entirely as SPL, the pay is the same because the weekly rate is identical. The difference is flexibility: SPL allows block leave and concurrent leave with his partner, while SPP must be taken in one or two continuous weeks within the 56-day window after birth.

Eligibility rules for both schemes

Both SPP and SPL require you to be an employee (not self-employed), to have worked for your employer for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the baby is due, and to earn at least £123 per week on average. For SPP, you must be the biological father, the mother's husband or civil partner, or her partner living with her in an enduring relationship. You must also be taking time off to care for the child or support the mother.

For SPL, both parents must meet eligibility criteria. The mother must have been entitled to maternity leave or pay (or maternity allowance), must have given notice to end her maternity leave, and must share responsibility for the child with the other parent. If the mother is not entitled to maternity pay because she is self-employed, she may still qualify for maternity allowance, which can open the door to SPL if the other conditions are met.

• SPP: simpler notice, fixed two-week window, no need for the mother to curtail leave first
• SPL: mother must curtail maternity leave, both parents must give binding notices to their employers
• SPP: must start within 56 days of birth or due date
• SPL: can start any time in the first year, in one block or several
• SPP: employer cannot refuse if you meet the conditions
• SPL: employer can refuse discontinuous leave blocks but must accept a single continuous block

When SPP is the better choice

Standard paternity leave suits fathers who want a short, guaranteed period off immediately after the birth without asking the mother to cut her maternity leave short. You give notice to your employer (at least 15 weeks before the due date for leave, and 28 days before for pay), take one or two weeks, and return to work. There is no complex booking system and no dependency on your partner's employer agreeing to a leave pattern.

SPP also makes sense when the mother plans to use the full 39 weeks of maternity pay herself. Converting leave to SPL only helps if there is unused leave or pay to share. If she will take the full year of maternity leave, the father is limited to his two weeks of paternity leave unless the employer offers enhanced leave above the statutory minimum.

Run your figures through the paternity pay calculator to confirm your weekly rate and total payment before you submit notice to your employer.

When Shared Parental Leave makes more sense

SPL is worth considering when the mother wants to return to work before her maternity leave ends and the father wants more than two weeks at home. A common pattern is for the mother to take six months of leave while the father takes two weeks of paternity leave at the start, then returns to work, and later takes a block of SPL when the mother goes back to her job. This staggers childcare and keeps one parent at home for longer without either taking a full year off.

Parents who are both higher earners sometimes use SPL to balance career and childcare without either partner losing an entire year of income. Because shared parental pay is capped at £187.18 per week for most earners, the financial hit during leave is significant. Checking your normal net pay against statutory pay using a salary calculator helps you budget for the drop in household income.

Enhanced employer pay

Many employers offer enhanced paternity pay or shared parental pay above the statutory minimum. A firm might pay full salary for two weeks of paternity leave, or top up shared parental pay to a percentage of normal earnings. These contractual benefits are separate from the statutory schemes and vary widely. Check your staff handbook and contract before you decide, because generous employer paternity pay can outweigh the flexibility of SPL for some families.

Notice requirements and practical steps

For SPP, you must tell your employer at least 15 weeks before the baby is due that you want paternity leave, and at least 28 days before your leave starts that you want paternity pay. You need the baby's due date, the actual date of birth once known, and whether you want one or two weeks. Your employer may ask for a self-certification form but cannot demand a birth certificate before paying SPP.

For SPL, both parents must give notice to curtail maternity leave and to book shared parental leave. The mother must give at least eight weeks' notice to end maternity leave. Each parent must give their employer a notice of entitlement and intention to take SPL, followed by a period of leave notice at least eight weeks before the leave starts. Discontinuous leave (several separate blocks) requires the employer's agreement within two weeks of the request.

Tax and benefits during leave

Both SPP and shared parental pay count as employment income. Your employer deducts Income Tax and National Insurance through PAYE. The payments may push you into a different tax band for that pay period, though the amounts are usually small enough that the effect is minor. For context on how tax bands work across the year, see our guide to UK income tax bands for 2025.

Statutory pay does not affect your entitlement to child benefit, but if either parent has adjusted net income above £60,000, the high income child benefit charge may apply. Universal Credit and other means-tested benefits may be affected by a drop in earnings during leave. If you are self-employed and considering how employment rights compare with working for yourself, our sole trader vs limited company calculator can help you model the broader financial picture, though statutory paternity rights apply only to employees.

Making the decision as a couple

Start with three numbers: how many weeks the mother plans to take, how many weeks the father wants at home, and what your combined income looks like during those periods. If the father only wants two weeks immediately after the birth and the mother is taking a full year, SPP is the straightforward answer. If the mother wants to return after four or five months and the father wants an extended period at home later in the year, SPL is worth the extra paperwork.

Talk to both employers early. Some companies are more flexible about discontinuous SPL than others. Smaller employers may find it harder to accommodate multiple leave blocks, while larger organisations often have established shared parental leave policies. Whatever you choose, calculate your statutory pay first, check for enhanced employer pay second, and plan your household budget around the weekly figure rather than your normal salary.