Shared Parental Pay 2026: How ShPP and SPL Work

Quick answer

Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) is paid at the lower of the flat statutory weekly rate set for 2026/27 or 90% of your average weekly earnings, for up to 37 weeks shared between two eligible parents. It is taxable through PAYE and attracts employee National Insurance at 8% on earnings above GBP 12,570, just like a normal wage. Always confirm the current flat rate on gov.uk.

What Shared Parental Leave and Pay actually are

Shared Parental Leave (SPL) is a system that lets parents convert part of the mother's or primary adopter's maternity or adoption entitlement into a shared pot. Instead of one parent taking nearly all the time off, a couple can split it.

The headline numbers are straightforward. A mother or primary adopter is entitled to up to 52 weeks of leave and up to 39 weeks of statutory pay. If they end that entitlement early, the unused balance can become SPL - up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay to share. The two missing weeks of leave are the compulsory period immediately after birth, which cannot be shared.

Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) is the money paid during those shared weeks. It is paid at the lower of:

• the flat statutory weekly rate set by the government for 2026/27, or
• 90% of your average weekly earnings.

The flat rate changes each April. Because it is a government-set figure that is reviewed annually, we deliberately do not pin a number to it here - check the current weekly rate on gov.uk before you plan. What matters for your finances is how that payment is taxed, which we cover below.

Who qualifies

Eligibility has two layers: the person ending their maternity or adoption entitlement, and the parent or parents taking the shared leave.

The mother or primary adopter must be entitled to statutory maternity or adoption leave or pay and must give binding notice to curtail it. Each parent taking SPL must then pass a continuity-of-employment test (broadly, continuous service with their employer) and meet the relevant earnings condition.

Self-employed parents cannot take SPL themselves because SPL is an employment right. However, a self-employed partner can still satisfy the "employment and earnings test" that allows the employed parent to qualify. If you are self-employed and unsure how your income interacts with the test, model your figures with the

calculator and confirm the eligibility rules on gov.uk.

How ShPP is taxed and what you actually keep

This is where most families get caught out. ShPP is treated as earnings. It goes through PAYE, and the same Income Tax and National Insurance rules apply as for any wage.

For 2026/27 the relevant figures are:

If your only income in the tax year were ShPP at the flat statutory rate, it would usually sit below the GBP 12,570 Personal Allowance over a full year, so little or no Income Tax would be due on that amount alone. The catch is that ShPP rarely stands alone. It stacks with:

• any pay you earned earlier in the same tax year before going on leave,
• any employer top-up to full or partial pay,
• any other taxable income such as a second job or rental profit.

Once everything is added together, the tax and NI thresholds bite on the total. A parent who worked several months at full salary and then receives ShPP will often have already used up a chunk of their Personal Allowance, so the statutory weeks are not entirely tax-free in practice.

Worked example of the principle

Consider a parent who earns a full salary from April to August and then takes shared parental leave on flat-rate ShPP for the rest of the year. Their earlier months may have already pushed their year-to-date income well into the basic-rate band. The ShPP weeks then arrive on top of that, so PAYE may deduct 20% Income Tax and 8% NI on the portion above the thresholds.

The reverse can also happen. A parent on leave for most of the year with little other income may find that their ShPP plus any short return to work stays under GBP 12,570, meaning a refund could be due if too much tax was deducted on a week-by-week basis. To see your net position across the full year, run the numbers through the

calculator.

Employer top-ups change the picture

Some employers offer enhanced shared parental pay - topping ShPP up to a percentage of, or all of, your normal salary. This is a contractual benefit, not a statutory right, so it varies hugely between employers.

Any top-up is ordinary taxable pay. It is subject to the full Income Tax and NI treatment in the table above, and it also counts towards student loan repayment thresholds where relevant:

If a generous top-up pushes your annual income above your plan threshold, repayments resume on the excess. Model that with the

calculator so the deduction does not surprise you.

Splitting leave: the flexibility advantage

The financial planning point that families often miss is that SPL is flexible in a way that traditional maternity and paternity leave is not. You can:

• take the shared weeks one parent at a time,
• both be off at the same time,
• or alternate in blocks.

Each parent can split their leave into up to three separate blocks. Continuous blocks must be granted if you give the required notice; discontinuous blocks need employer agreement.

This flexibility has a tax angle. Because tax and NI are assessed per person per year, spreading leave across two earners can sometimes use two Personal Allowances and two sets of thresholds more efficiently than concentrating it on one. The right structure depends entirely on each parent's salary, so it is worth modelling both scenarios.

SPLIT days

Shared Parental Leave in Touch (SPLIT) days let each parent work up to 20 days during SPL without ending their leave or losing a week of ShPP. These are separate from the keeping-in-touch days used during maternity or adoption leave.

SPLIT days are optional for both sides. Pay for them is a contractual matter, but any pay you do receive is taxable in the normal way and is added to your year-to-date earnings for PAYE purposes.

How it compares to the alternatives

There is no single right answer. The best structure depends on each parent's salary, whether either employer enhances pay, and how you want to share caring time.

Protecting your State Pension while off work

Time on statutory pay is not automatically a qualifying year for the State Pension, but parents of young children frequently build their National Insurance record through the credits attached to Child Benefit. A full new State Pension is GBP 241.30 per week for 2026/27, around GBP 12,548 a year, and you generally need about 35 qualifying years to receive it in full.

If you think you may have gaps, check your record on gov.uk. Filling gaps can sometimes be worthwhile through voluntary contributions, but only if the years genuinely count towards your entitlement.

Practical checklist

• Confirm both parents meet the continuity and earnings tests before committing.
• Get the curtailment notice for maternity or adoption pay in writing.
• Ask each employer whether they enhance ShPP, and get the policy in writing.
• Add ShPP, any top-up, and earlier earnings together to estimate the full-year tax position.
• Check whether a top-up restarts student loan repayments.
• Use the
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  calculator to see the NI element of your deductions.

Shared Parental Pay is not complicated once you treat it as ordinary taxable income that happens to be paid at a statutory rate. The planning lever is the flexibility: how you split the weeks between two earners can change the household tax bill more than the headline rate ever will. Model both parents across the whole year, confirm the current flat rate on gov.uk, and you will know exactly what you will keep.