Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

AdoptionShared parental leaveMaternityPaternityFamily-friendly benefits

Statutory maternity pay and sick pay frozen for 2016/17

by Personnel Today 27 Nov 2015
by Personnel Today 27 Nov 2015

Statutory maternity pay and statutory sick pay rates will not rise in 2016. The Government has proposed no annual increase in various statutory rates, including maternity pay, paternity pay, shared parental pay, adoption pay and sick pay.

The current weekly rate of statutory maternity pay and other parental payments is £139.58, or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings if this figure is less than the statutory rate.

Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental pay

Work out an employee’s statutory maternity pay

Statutory maternity pay earnings eligibility calculator

Employment law manual: statutory paternity pay

Which employees are entitled to statutory shared parental pay?

Although there is no statutory requirement to uplift these rates every year, they normally increase each April in line with the consumer price index (CPI). As the CPI fell by 0.1% in the year to September 2015, there will be no increase to the rates in 2016/17.

Bar Huberman, employment law editor at XpertHR says: “It will be a blow to many employees that these rates have been frozen. After the first six weeks of maternity leave, which are payable at 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, employees are entitled to 33 weeks’ statutory maternity pay at the weekly rate set by the Government.”

The freeze also applies to statutory shared parental pay. The amount of shared parental leave and pay to which parents are entitled depends on how much maternity leave and pay the mother takes and the amount of shared parental leave and pay taken by the other parent.

Employers can usually reclaim 92% of employees’ statutory maternity pay, paternity pay, adoption pay and shared parental pay.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The rate of statutory sick pay is also frozen at the current weekly rate of £88.45.

To be entitled to these statutory payments, the employee’s average earnings must be equal to or more than the lower earnings limit. This amount is also frozen at £112.

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
“Presenteeism costs twice as much as sickness absence”
next post
How the NHS plans to embrace employee health and wellbeing

You may also like

Government urged to commit to wholesale review of...

6 May 2025

Recruiter who returned to empty office after maternity...

23 Apr 2025

Retail employers offering fewer perks to offset wage...

26 Mar 2025

April 2025: What’s coming up for HR?

21 Mar 2025

UK is only advanced economy where economic inactivity...

20 Mar 2025

Ministers commit to miscarriage and pregnancy loss leave

12 Mar 2025

MP urges rethink on ‘ladies do babies’ approach...

6 Mar 2025

Employment Rights Bill: Government stays firm on sick...

5 Mar 2025

SSP changes mean 1.3m will receive up to...

3 Mar 2025

Up to 74,000 women forced out of work...

27 Feb 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+