Statutory Pay Rates 2026/27: How BrightPay Keeps Every SSP, SMP and SPP Calculation Correct

Statutory payment rates, covering Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP), Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) and Shared Parental Pay (ShPP), may be updated each April. For 2026/27, SSP has also undergone a fundamental legal reform, not just a rate change: the three waiting days and the lower earnings limit have both been removed, so SSP is now payable to all eligible employees from the first day of sickness. Getting any of this wrong creates both employee and HMRC exposure. BrightPay automatically applies the current statutory rates and rules for each period, so bureaus and in-house payroll teams process every statutory claim correctly regardless of when it starts or ends in the tax year.

Statutory payments are one of the most error-prone areas of payroll processing. Unlike regular pay, which follows a consistent weekly or monthly cycle, statutory payments vary by claim type, qualifying criteria, payment period and rate. A Statutory Maternity Pay claim that spans the end of one tax year and the beginning of another requires the correct rate to be applied for each portion of the claim period.

This blog is part of our series on Payroll Compliance 2026/27: Payrolling Benefits, Rates & Rules.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) in 2026/27 — a reformed scheme, not just a new rate

From 6 April 2026, the rules governing Statutory Sick Pay changed significantly under the Employment Rights Act reforms. Two long-standing features of SSP have been removed entirely:

• No more waiting days. Previously, the first three qualifying days of sickness were unpaid. From 6 April 2026, SSP is payable from the first qualifying day of sickness absence.

• No more lower earnings limit (LEL) test for SSP. Previously, an employee had to earn at least the LEL to qualify. From 6 April 2026, SSP is available to all eligible employees regardless of their earnings.

The weekly rate of SSP for 2026/27 is £123.25, or 80% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. SSP remains payable for up to 28 weeks per period of incapacity for work (or linked periods). Employers still cannot recover SSP from HMRC — this was unaffected by the reform.

To qualify for SSP, an employee must have an employment contract, have done some work under it, and have been sick for at least one full working day (a ‘period of incapacity for work’). Employees can still be asked for a fit note, but only once they have been off work for more than 7 days in a row, and SSP cannot be withheld simply because a fit note arrives late.

Form SSP1 in 2026/27

Form SSP1 is still required, but — because the LEL no longer applies to SSP — it will far less often be triggered by an earnings-based exclusion. It is still needed where an employee does not qualify for SSP at all (for example: no qualifying employment contract, fewer than one full day’s incapacity, in custody or on strike on the first day of sickness, already received the maximum 28 weeks of SSP, or received Employment and Support Allowance within 12 weeks of starting or returning to work) or where SSP entitlement is ending before the sickness itself ends.

• Send SSP1 within 7 days of the employee’s first day off sick, if they do not qualify for SSP at all.

• Send SSP1 within 7 days of SSP ending, if it ends unexpectedly while the employee is still sick.

• Send SSP1 on or before the start of the 23rd week of sickness, if SSP is expected to end before the sickness does.

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Paternity Pay (SPP) and Adoption Pay (SAP)

Statutory Maternity Leave runs for up to 52 weeks — the first 26 weeks are ‘Ordinary Maternity Leave’, the last 26 weeks ‘Additional Maternity Leave’. Leave can start up to 11 weeks before the expected week of childbirth, and the employee must take at least 2 weeks after the birth (4 weeks for factory workers).

SMP is paid for up to 39 weeks: the first 6 weeks at 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings (AWE) with no cap, and the remaining 33 weeks at the lower of the standard weekly rate or 90% of AWE. GOV.UK’s dedicated 2026/27 rates page confirms the standard weekly rate for SMP, SPP, SAP and ShPP as £194.32 for 2026/27, uprated each April in line with the consumer prices index and applying to SMP from 5 April 2026 and to the other payments from 6 April 2026.

To qualify for SMP, the employee must have at least 26 weeks’ continuous employment ending with the qualifying week (the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth), and must earn at or above the lower earnings limit — £129 per week for 2026/27 (this LEL test is unchanged by the SSP reform and still applies to SMP, SPP, SAP and ShPP).

Statutory Paternity Pay allows eligible employees to take 1 or 2 weeks of leave, either consecutively or separately. Leave must finish within 52 weeks of the birth or placement (this window was extended from the previous 56-day limit by earlier paternity leave reforms and has remained at 52 weeks into 2026/27). SPP is paid at the same standard weekly rate as SMP for the relevant period — £194.32 or 90% of AWE, whichever is lower.

Statutory Adoption Pay follows the same structure as SMP — 90% of AWE for the first 6 weeks, then the standard weekly rate for up to 33 weeks — and applies to employees who are adopting a child.

Employers can recover a proportion of SMP, SPP, SAP and Shared Parental Pay from HMRC through the normal RTI process. For 2026/27, standard employers recover 92% of the payments made. Small employers — those whose total Class 1 National Insurance contributions (employee and employer combined) were £45,000 or less in the previous tax year — can recover 109%, which includes a compensation element for the employer’s National Insurance cost of the statutory payment.

Shared Parental Pay (ShPP)

Shared Parental Leave and Pay allows eligible parents to share up to 37 weeks of Shared Parental Pay between them, following the compulsory maternity leave period. Shared Parental Pay is paid at the same standard weekly rate as SMP — £194.32 or 90% of AWE, whichever is lower — and is recoverable from HMRC at the same 92% (standard) or 109% (small employer) rates as SMP, SPP and SAP.

The administrative complexity of Shared Parental Pay — which can involve multiple discontinuous blocks, notification requirements, and coordination between two employers if both parents work — makes it one of the highest-risk statutory payment types for error.

Rates at a glance — 2026/27

How BrightPay Handles Statutory Payments

BrightPay is updated each April with the new statutory payment rates and rules for the tax year. From 6 April 2026, BrightPay applies SSP from the first day of sickness with no waiting days and no earnings test, alongside the correct 2026/27 SMP/SPP/SAP/ShPP standard rate and the £129 lower earnings limit — without manual rate entry in each employer configuration.

For claims that span the tax year end, BrightPay applies the correct rate for each portion of the claim period: the 2025/26 rate for payments made before 6 April 2026, and the 2026/27 rate from that date onwards. BrightPay also applies the SSP transitional rules automatically for sickness absences that started before 6 April 2026 and continue afterwards, including recalculating eligibility for employees previously excluded by the (now-removed) SSP lower earnings limit.

BrightPay calculates Average Weekly Earnings automatically based on the earnings in the 8 weeks (or 2 months, for monthly-paid employees) before the relevant week, pulling the figures directly from the employee’s pay history within the system.

Statutory payment records within BrightPay also generate the correct RTI reporting, including the year-to-date statutory payment figures on Full Payment Submissions, and the recovery amounts (92% or 109%) on Employer Payment Summaries, determined automatically based on the employer’s small employer status in the system.

For further information, check out our blog on Are you prepared for payroll changes in the 2026/27 tax year?

For more information on legislation, check out our blogs on Looking for further information on legislation? Check out our blogs on The £10,500 Employment Allowance Is Now Open to All Employers: How BrightPay Ensures Every Eligible Client Claims It, Student Loan Plan 5 Starts April 2026: How BrightPay Keeps Every Deduction Correct, and Electric Vehicles and Salary Sacrifice: How BrightPay Helps Employers Set Up a Compliant, Tax-Efficient Scheme.

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This content may have been developed with the assistance of AI tools. Content is reviewed by a member of the Bright team before publication. Guidance on legislation can be obtained from your industry body.