Additional Statutory Paternity Pay: eligibility forms and records

Your employee may be entitled to Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (ASPP) if their partner has a baby or adopts a child and is entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay, Maternity Allowance or Statutory Adoption Pay. ASPP replaces normal earnings and you must deduct tax and National Insurance contributions in the normal way.

ASPP allows parents more flexibility when arranging time-off to care for children. It applies for any employees who have babies due or are matched with a child for adoption on or after 3 April 2011. For overseas adoptions, the child has to enter the UK on or after 3 April 2011.

ASPP is payable in addition to any Ordinary Statutory Paternity Pay available. Whether, as their employer, you must pay your employee ASPP depends on how long they have worked for you, how much they earn and when the baby is due to be born or adopted. They will also have to provide you with a declaration of their eligibility and give you notice on when they want you to start paying their ASPP.

You’ll normally be able to recover some or all of the ASPP you pay.

ASPP eligibility forms and records: overview

You should check if your employee is eligible for additional paternity leave (APL) and Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (ASPP). If so your employee should complete the relevant form – see the page in this guide on ASPP forms and records – or let you have written confirmation of the same information at least eight weeks before your employee wishes to start their ASPP.

If you need help with checking your employee’s eligibility there’s a checksheet ASPP 3 which you can use.

Once you are clear they are eligible for ASPP, you then need to calculate how much to pay. There’s more about this later in this guide.

Full details of the qualifying conditions for APL and pay can be found in our guide on additional paternity leave entitlement.

Find form ASPP3 employer checksheet for ASPP and additional paternity leave on the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) website – Opens in a new window

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ASPP eligibility if a mother or adopter dies

Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (ASPP) isn’t normally paid until the child is 20 weeks old. There is one exception to this – if the mother or adopter dies, ASPP can be paid immediately following their death.

The normal eligibility rules apply but with the following differences:

• Your employee is able to claim immediately, no matter how old the baby is when the mother dies or how long the child has been placed or – in the case of overseas adoption – when they entered the UK. In effect this means they may be entitled to the balance of their spouse or partner’s entitlement to Statutory Maternity Pay, Maternity Allowance or Statutory Adoption Pay from the date of their spouse or partner’s death.
• There is no requirement for a signed declaration from the mother or adopter.
• There is no requirement for the mother or adopter to have resumed working before their death.

You can check the normal eligibility rules in the related guide below, but bear in mind the slight changes mentioned here.

Applying for ASPP in the event of a mother or adopter’s death

The employee applying for ASPP should give you a signed declaration, SC10 or equivalent, as soon as possible after the mother or adopter’s death. Providing a written declaration is received within eight weeks of the mother or adopter’s death, then that declaration can request ASPP to start on any date, as long as the date is not before the date of the mother or adopter’s death.

If you do not receive a signed declaration, or equivalent, within eight weeks of the mother or adopter’s death, ASPP cannot start until six weeks after declaration is given.

Even if your employee notifies you verbally or in some other way they must formalise it, using a signed declaration, SC10 or equivalent, within eight weeks of the mother or adopter’s death.

You’ll find details of all the forms associated with ASPP in the page in this guide on ASPP forms and records.

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Calculating and recovering ASPP

Our guide on how to calculate and recover Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (ASPP) explains in detail how to calculate, pay and recover ASPP. This includes some tools and calculators to support you.

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ASPP forms and records

There are a number of forms supporting Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (ASPP).

Form SC7 – ASPP and Additional Paternity Leave (APL) – becoming a parent

This is the form that your employee gives to you, to apply for ASPP, if they are a parent of a child. This form will tell your employee about the terms and conditions that apply for ASPP. There is also a declaration on the form that they and the mother of the child must sign confirming that they are entitled to APL and ASPP.

Find form SC7 Declaration ASPP and APL – becoming a parent on the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) website – Opens in a new window

Form SC8 – ASPP and APL – becoming an adoptive parent

This is the form that your employee gives to you, to apply for ASPP, if they have jointly adopted a child. This form will tell your employee about the terms and conditions that apply for ASPP. There is also a declaration on the form that they and the joint adopter of the child must sign confirming that they are entitled to APL and ASPP.

Find form SC8 Declaration ASPP and APL – becoming an adoptive parent on the HMRC website – Opens in a new window

Form SC9 – ASPP and APL – adopting a child from abroad

This is the form that your employee gives to you, to apply for ASPP, if they have adopted a child from abroad. This form will tell your employee about the terms and conditions that apply for ASPP. There is also a declaration on the form that they and the joint adopter of the child must sign confirming that they are entitled to APL and ASPP.

Find form SC9 Declaration ASPP and APL – adopting a child from abroad on the HMRC website – Opens in a new window

Form SC10 – ASPP in the event of the death of the mother/adopter

This is the form that your employee gives to you, to apply for ASPP, in the event of the death of the mother or adopter.

This form will tell your employee about the terms and conditions that apply for ASPP. There is also a declaration on the form that they must sign confirming that they’re entitled to APL and ASPP.

Find form SC10 Declaration ASPP in the event of the death of the mother/adopter on the HMRC website – Opens in a new window

Record keeping

The records you’ll need to keep include:

• the declaration form SC7, SC8, SC9 or SC10, or equivalent – keep a copy if you hand it back to your employee
• the payment dates and amount paid
• the date the pay period began
• details of ASPP that wasn’t paid and the reason why

Find form ASPP2 – ASPP – record of payments purposes on the HMRC website – Opens in a new window

As well as recording payments on ASPP2, you must also use the following to keep records of the payments of ASPP you make and the amounts you recover:

• form P11 or an equivalent employee payroll record (either electronic or paper) – if you’re using a paper form P11, include ASPP in gross pay in the ‘Additional Statutory Paternity Pay’ column for each week or month that you pay ASPP
• form P14 End of year summary – you only have to show the ASPP paid to your employee in the year from the P11
• form P35 Employer Annual Return (filed online) – you only have to show the total amount of ASPP recovered in the year and any amount of National Insurance contributions compensation you received

If you use the Simplified Deduction Scheme for domestic employees, there are different forms to use:

• P12 Simplified Deduction Card – if you’re recovering some or all of the ASPP, record all the payments of ASPP you make to your employee each week or month
• P37 Employer Annual Return

You must keep all these records for at least three years after the end of the tax year they relate to.

Payroll calculations and records: an introduction

Filing your Employer Annual Return (P35 and P14) online

Simplified PAYE for domestic employees

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If an employee does not qualify for ASPP

If you determine that your employee isn’t entitled to be paid Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (ASPP), you must tell them your decision and the reasons for it. You must do this within 28 days of receiving your employee’s request. You can do this using form ASPP1.

Where you have already started to make payments of ASPP and before the end of the pay period you decide your employee is no longer entitled to any further payments of ASPP you must:

• tell your employee your decision and your reasons for it
• give them details of the last week they are entitled to ASPP
• tell them the total number of weeks ASPP is payable

You must do this within seven days of entitlement ending. You can do this using form ASPP1.

Also make a copy of your employee’s declaration – form SC7, SC8, SC9 or SC10 or equivalent – and give the original back to them with any other evidence they provided you with.

Find form ASPP1 Non-payment of ASPP on the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) website – Opens in a new window

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If an employee disagrees with your ASPP decision

If you and your employee cannot agree on whether or not you should pay Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (ASPP), you can ask HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for advice by calling their Employer Helpline – you’ll find a link to their contact details in the help and advice on ASSP page in this guide. Your employee can also ask HMRC for a decision if you cannot agree.

Find form ASPP1 Non-payment of ASPP on the HMRC website – Opens in a new window

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Help and advice on ASPP

You’ll find detailed guidance in the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) publication E19, Employer Helpbook for Ordinary and Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (ASPP).

Download E19 ‘Employer Helpbook for Ordinary and Additional Statutory Paternity Pay’ from the HMRC website (PDF, 643K) – Opens in a new window

If you still cannot find what you need, you can ask a question through HMRC’s email query service. HMRC aims to respond to email queries, or contact you for more information, within two working days.

Send an ASPP (birth) email query on the HMRC website – Opens in a new window

Alternatively you can get advice from HMRC’s Employer Helpline, especially if your query relates to an adoption.

Find contact details for the Employer Helpline on the HMRC website – Opens in a new window

If your employee needs help to decide if they are eligible to claim, they can find it on the Directgov website.

Find advice for employees on the Directgov website – Opens in a new window

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