SPM150100 | Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (ASPP) - general information: what is ASPP (Historical Information)

ASPP was abolished from 5 April 2015 however employees who qualified before this date continued to receive ASPP until December 2015.

ASPP was due to qualifying employees when

• their partner has had a baby, or

• they and their partner were jointly adopting a child.

Couples in Northern Ireland need to be married in order to jointly adopt a child.

ASPP was an additional payment given to eligible partners of mothers and adopters where there was entitlement to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Maternity Allowance (MA) or Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP). This was to take time off work to care for the child.

The earliest start date for ASPP was 20 weeks after the child’s birth or the date the child was placed with an adopter and had at least two weeks SMP, MA or SAP still remaining. The mother or adopter must have returned to work before payment started.

ASPP was payable for the remainder of the SMP, MA or SAP pay period, but payment could not continue beyond the end of the pay period.

Employers were responsible for administering the scheme and paying their employees the ASPP to which they were entitled.

All statutory payments are treated as earnings for income tax and NICs purposes.

Employers could recover some or all of the ASPP paid to their employees in the same way as for SMP, see SPM180600.

Policy responsibility for the scheme rested with:

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and

The Department for Employment & Learning (DELNI) in Northern Ireland