Section 2: Statutory Paternity Pay
17.This section incorporates provisions into the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 conferring a new statutory right to Statutory Paternity Pay for fathers following the birth of a child or the placement of a child for adoption. Statutory Paternity Pay is to be paid for a period of two weeks, or if regulations so provide, a period of a week or two periods of a week. Regulations will provide for the father to choose to be paid for a single period of one week or two weeks. Statutory Paternity Pay will generally be payable for paternity leave taken within 56 days of the date on which the child is born or placed for adoption.
18.The rate of Statutory Paternity Pay will be set in regulations. From April 2003 it will be the lesser of £100 per week or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings.
19.Statutory Paternity Pay will be available to an employee who has met the service qualification (continuous service with the same employer for at least 26 weeks by the fifteenth week before the child is expected to be born or by the week in which an approved match is made with the child; and continuous service from that week up to the child’s date of birth or placement), has a relationship (to be specified in regulations) with the child and the mother or adoptive parent, gives appropriate notification, and whose average weekly earnings are equal to or above the Lower Earnings Limit applying to National Insurance Contributions (NICs) (£75 per week from April 2002). For practical reasons there will be slight differences in how paternity leave operates between those adopting within the UK and those adopting overseas. Provisions for overseas adoptions will be made in regulations. It is planned that employees who are entitled to Statutory Paternity Pay will have an obligation to give their employer a self-certificate to support their entitlement to pay (the same self-certificate as for paternity leave).
20.Statutory Paternity Pay will be administered by employers in the same way as Statutory Maternity Pay. Employers will be able to recover a percentage of the amount of Statutory Paternity Pay they pay out (limited in most cases to 92%), with small employers who are entitled to Small Employers’ Relief (in 2002/3, those with NICs due in a year of £40,000 or less) able to claim 100% and an added payment (in 2002/3 of 4.5% for Statutory Maternity Pay) to compensate for employers’ share of National Insurance Contributions payable in respect of Statutory Paternity Pay. Section 7 of the Act provides for a power to make regulations to enable employers to ask for funding, if necessary in advance, from the Inland Revenue where the amount of Statutory Paternity Pay they have to pay their employees exceeds the amount of tax and NICs or Student Loan deductions that they are due to pay to the Inland Revenue. In certain circumstances where an employer fails to pay Statutory Paternity Pay, the Inland Revenue will become responsible for the payment. Liability will also fall on the Inland Revenue from the first week in which an employer becomes insolvent.
21.The framework for Statutory Paternity Pay is similar to that already in place for Statutory Maternity Pay and Working Families’ Tax Credit . The distribution of rights and obligations as between primary and secondary legislation follows the model of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 and Tax Credits Act 1999. As under those Acts, administrative and enforcement powers are conferred on the Inland Revenue. Sections 13 - 15 also provide for the exchange of information about Statutory Paternity Pay between the Inland Revenue, the DTI and other relevant departments.
22.To ensure compliance the sections provide for:
Employers to keep appropriate records and to make periodic returns to the Inland Revenue
Employers to produce those records for inspection by the Inland Revenue
Employers to provide information about entitlement to their employees
The Inland Revenue to be able to obtain information from both employers and applicants for Statutory Paternity Pay
The Inland Revenue to impose penalties where there is refusal or repeated failure to comply
The Inland Revenue to make decisions on entitlement in the event of dispute
Appeals against decisions made and penalties awarded to be heard by the Independent Tax Commissioners.
