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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2026-03-13
Concept: Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay for Northern Ireland

Concept: Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay for Northern Ireland

From 6th April 2026 HMRC introduced a new form of Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) specifically for Northern Ireland: SPBPNIRE. You use it to report the total amount of SPBP paid to an employee who is gainfully employed in Northern Ireland during the tax year.

Differences for Northern Ireland

Two major changes occurred in 2026 that necessitated separate reporting for Northern Ireland:
  • SPBP and Leave were extended to include miscarriages (up to 24 weeks).
  • SPBP is now a Day One right for employees, whereas Great Britain maintains eligibility criteria.

SPBPNIRE Eligibility

  • Day One Entitlement
    An employee in Northern Ireland no longer needs 26 weeks of continuous service to qualify for the pay element. They are eligible from the first day of their employment.
  • Gainful Employment
    The individual must be "gainfully employed" in Northern Ireland.
  • Contract Type
    The individual must be classed as an employee (that is, with a contract of service). Note that "workers" (such as agency workers) may qualify for the pay element if they meet the National Insurance criteria, even if they don't qualify for the leave element.
Northern Ireland recognises three distinct scenarios for eligibility:
  • Child’s Death
    The death of a child under the age of 18.
  • Stillbirth
    A baby born stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
  • Miscarriage
    Loss of a pregnancy at any stage before 24 weeks. This includes both the person who was pregnant and their partner.

Entitlement

In Northern Ireland, SPBPNIRE entitlement is split into two parts: the time off (leave) and the payment (pay).
The leave entitlement remains consistent with the previous UK SPBP framework, but also includes:
  • The duration is 2 weeks of protected leave.
  • Leave can be taken as one block of 2 weeks, or two separate blocks of 1 week. SPBPNIRE leave can’t be taken as a partial week unless there is an interrupting leave, such as pre-booked parental leave. If there is an interrupting leave you may need to manually override and check your calculations.
  • Leave must be taken within 56 weeks of the date of the loss.
  • Employees are entitled to this leave from their first day of employment.
The pay element includes:
  • A revised statutory rate. Example: £194.32 per week (for the 2026/27 tax year) or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.
  • No requirement of 26 weeks of service to get paid, the pay is now a Day One right.
  • That the employee must have earned at least the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) on average over a specific 8-week period. Any situation different from this may affect the AWE calculation.

Average Weekly Earnings Calculation

When the employee has a continuous 8-week period ending with the Relevant Week (that is, the week before the loss) this is classed as “normal” earnings and weeks. A normal week must run from Sunday to Saturday.
The Relevant Window is a 16-week window that is available to the employee to use to determine their eligibility to SPBPNIRE. The first 8 weeks of the Relevant Window relates to “normal” weekly earnings and ends with the Relevant Week. The second 8 weeks within the Relevant Window relate to “expected” weekly earnings, the first week of which is the week of bereavement.
No action is required if the employee earns over the LEL, and their 90% rate is higher than the required minimum. In this case you use the simplified 8-week period and check the employee's pay results to ensure they received the correct amount.
If the employee received the wrong amount, or they've 8 weeks service or less, manually calculate their AWE, use Payroll Input to record the AWE value, and recalculate their pay results.
You can only override AWE, not any of the employee's normal, expected, or relevant period earnings.

RTI Reporting

EPS data items:
  • 221. Value of SPBPNIRE recovered YTD
  • 222. Value of NIC compensation on SPBPNIRE YTD
FPS data items:
  • 223. Value of Statutory Parental Bereavement pay for Northern Ireland (SPBPNIRE) year to date
  • 224. Access to Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) in Northern Ireland due to miscarriage
  • 225. Northern Ireland employee workplace postcode
For FPS reporting, if the worker suffers more than one bereavement event in the tax year, use the postcode and miscarriage indicator from the latest event.