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Statutory Pay

Summary

Payroll can pay SMP, SPP, SAP, ShPP, SPBP, and SSP when a person has approved leave linked to those pay codes in the pay period. Updates can show Statutory Pay Validation or Statutory Pay Calculation. Recoverable amounts for SPP, ShPP, and SPBP appear on HMRC EPS under Recoverable Amounts.

In this article

  • Before you begin
  • Check leave and tax details
  • Check statutory warnings on Updates
  • See statutory pay in the cycle
  • See recoverable amounts on EPS
  • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Before you begin

You must have an active Payroll add-on to access and use Payroll features.

You need Company Money access, View Pay Schedules, and Start Payrun.

To open EPS, you need access to HMRC EPS for the location. To submit, you need Submit EPS.

Statutory pay in the cycle depends on:

  • Approved leave that overlaps the pay period
  • A time-off policy linked to SMP, SPP, SAP, ShPP, SPBP, or SSP
  • Tax and employment details that payroll can use to test eligibility

This article explains what Plumm shows and what it means. It is not HMRC legal advice. Check GOV.UK or speak to your payroll adviser for statutory entitlement rules.

Off-payroll workers are not included in this statutory pay calculation.

Check leave and tax details

Before you start the pay run, confirm that the leave is Approved and covers dates within the pay period.

Confirm that the time-off policy is linked to the matching statutory pay code:

  • SMP — Statutory Maternity Pay
  • SPP — Statutory Paternity Pay
  • SAP — Statutory Adoption Pay
  • ShPP — Statutory Shared Parental Pay
  • SPBP — Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay
  • SSP — Statutory Sick Pay

On the person’s payroll tax details, you may also see year-to-date boxes for SMP, SPP, SAP, ShPP, and SPBP. These fields must contain a number.

These values are starting balances. They do not replace leave records for the current pay period.

Start the pay cycle from Company Money, open Pay Schedules, then select Start Pay run or Continue Pay run.

Check statutory warnings on Updates

On Updates, the Type column can show:

  • Statutory Pay Validation
  • Statutory Pay Calculation

The columns are Name, Message, Type, and Update Date.

If validation fails, the message starts Statutory Pay Validation Failed:, followed by the reason.

Reasons payroll can store include:

  • Not Eligible for Statutory Pay.
  • Income cannot be lower than National Minimum Wage.
  • Statutory Pay is not allowed for Salary Sacrifice Employees.
  • Maximum 28-week SSP entitlement has been reached.
  • Employee is already in an SMP/SAP pay period; SMP/SAP takes precedence over SSP.
  • Missing employment start date.
  • Missing statutory leave records.
  • Employee must complete 26 weeks of continuous employment.
  • Average Weekly Earnings is below LEL.
  • Statutory leave ended before current pay cycle.
  • Statutory leave starts after current pay cycle.

If the person is not Eligible, payroll does not pay that statutory amount in the current cycle. The related statutory income line is removed from the cycle.

After correcting leave, earnings, or pension settings, select Recalculate.

Do not treat these messages as a complete legal assessment. They represent the checks payroll ran for the current cycle.

See statutory pay in the cycle

Open Salaries, then Income.

Statutory pay is included as other income when the person is Eligible.

Payroll uses the standard weekly rate table for the tax year together with the person’s average weekly earnings.

SMP and SAP use the maternity or adoption calculation for dates that fall within the cycle.

SPP, ShPP, SPBP, and SSP each use their own calculation for the same period.

If Keep In Touch or Shared Parental Leave in Touch days are Eligible, additional amounts can be added for those days.

Open the person to see the income lines. The pay code name is used as the label for the line.

Statutory pay is also included in attachable income used for court orders where SSP applies. See Court Orders.

Continue to Review and Process as you would in a normal pay cycle.

See recoverable amounts on EPS

After the pay run, open HMRC EPS for the period.

The page heading is HMRC EPS.

The status can be:

  • Not Submitted
  • Submitted
  • Submitted With Error
  • Generating
  • Submitting

Under Recoverable Amounts, you will see:

  • Tax Month
  • SPP Recovered
  • ShPP Recovered
  • SPBP Recovered
  • NIC Compensation On SPP
  • NIC Compensation On ShPP
  • NIC Compensation On SPBP

These are the recoverable figures payroll prepared for the EPS.

If the status is Not Submitted and you have Submit EPS, you can select Submit EPS or Regenerate EPS after reviewing the details.

This screen does not currently show SMP Recovered or SAP Recovered.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  • Why is there no statutory pay in this cycle?
    Leave may not be Approved, may not overlap the pay period, or Statutory Pay Validation may have failed. Open Updates and read the message. Off-payroll workers are excluded.
  • Does statutory pay replace salary?
    Statutory pay is added as other income when the person is Eligible. Salary Current Cycle Salary still follows Worked/Working Days or hourly hours. Unpaid or statutory leave can also reduce worked days. See Salary pay calculation.
  • Is this HMRC advice?
    No. Plumm shows the amounts and warnings it calculated for the cycle. Use GOV.UK or speak to your payroll adviser for entitlement, recovery, and Small Employers Relief guidance.
  • Where do I download a statutory payment summary?
    Company payroll reports can include Download Statutory Payment Summary Report if you have that permission.
  • What does Eligible mean here?
    Payroll ran its checks and did not store a failure reason. It is not a guarantee of HMRC acceptance.