NHS Paternity Pay
NHS paternity pay gives eligible staff two weeks at full pay after the birth or adoption of a child, under Section 35 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook. Staff with twelve months of continuous NHS service receive the full occupational rate, which is far higher than the statutory weekly rate paid to those who do not qualify.
This guide covers how the pay is calculated, who is eligible, how to apply, the 2026 statutory changes including Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave, how the two weeks show on your payslip and pension, and the other family leave NHS parents can take.
What Is NHS Paternity Pay?
NHS paternity pay is an occupational benefit that gives eligible staff two weeks at their normal full pay when they take time off after the birth or adoption of a child. Section 35 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook sets out the entitlement under the name "maternity support leave," reflecting the handbook's wording that pre-dates modern paternity leave terminology. Full pay is calculated against the employee's average weekly earnings, with any Statutory Paternity Pay the employee is entitled to receive offset inside the occupational payment rather than added on top.
The occupational rate is materially more generous than the statutory position. A Band 5 nurse earning £35,000 a year receives roughly £673 a week during the two-week leave, compared with the statutory maximum of £187.18 a week in 2025/26 under HMRC's rates and allowances for statutory payments. The two-week occupational pay covers the leave window regardless of whether the fortnight falls inside a single payslip or splits across two monthly cycles.
The Handbook Name for Paternity Leave
Section 35 names the entitlement "Maternity Support (Paternity) Leave," signalling that the purpose of the leave is to support the birth mother or primary adopter in the postnatal period rather than to recreate the longer maternity entitlement for a second parent. The leave applies to the biological father, the mother's spouse or civil partner, the mother's unmarried partner living in a stable relationship, and a nominated carer, provided the person expects to share main responsibility for the child's upbringing. The two-week entitlement sits alongside Section 15 maternity leave and Section 20 adoption leave in the Handbook, forming the family leave block for NHS staff.
How Much Is NHS Paternity Pay?
NHS paternity pay pays two weeks at full pay, calculated against the employee's average weekly earnings in the reference period before the expected week of childbirth. The occupational payment runs to roughly 100% of normal earnings for salaried staff, with the Statutory Paternity Pay element offset inside the figure rather than added as a top-up. The two weeks can be taken as a single fortnight or as two separate one-week blocks, provided both weeks fall within the Section 35 window.
Occupational pay attaches to the leave itself, not to the calendar month of the payslip. The fortnight that sits inside one monthly pay cycle shows as normal pay for that month; a fortnight that straddles two pay cycles splits across both payslips at the full weekly rate for the relevant number of days.
Full Pay and Average Weekly Earnings
Average weekly earnings for Section 35 paternity pay are calculated across the eight weeks immediately before the expected week of childbirth (or the week the adopter is matched with a child), matching the reference period used for occupational maternity pay in Section 15. The calculation includes basic pay, regular contractual overtime, shift enhancements, and unsocial hours payments earned in those eight weeks. Staff with variable rotas or regular enhancements therefore receive a paternity pay figure that reflects their typical take-home rather than only their basic salary.
The reference period smooths out any single light or heavy pay week. Where an employee is on long-term sick leave or unpaid leave during part of the reference period, the trust uses the pay actually received rather than a notional full-pay figure, which can lower the average weekly earnings used for the paternity calculation.
Statutory Paternity Pay Inside the Occupational Payment
Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) is embedded within the Section 35 occupational payment, not paid in addition to it. For most NHS staff whose full pay exceeds the statutory weekly rate (£187.18 in 2025/26, rising to £194.32 from 6 April 2026 under HMRC's annual uprating), the employee's take-home remains at the full-pay level. The payroll team reclaims the statutory portion from HMRC under the standard employer recovery route for statutory family payments, which is why the payslip typically shows two lines — "Occupational Paternity Pay" and "Statutory Paternity Pay" — that together add to the full weekly rate.
This offsetting matters when the employee has a tax code change, student loan repayment, or marriage allowance applied, because the SPP element and the occupational top-up both flow through PAYE in the same month. The gross figure stays the same; only the labelling on the payslip changes.
How Much Paternity Leave Do NHS Staff Get?
NHS staff receive two weeks of paternity leave under Section 35, regardless of whether the two weeks are taken as one block or split into two separate single weeks. Each week runs for seven consecutive days from the chosen start date. The two-week allowance is per pregnancy or adoption placement, not per child, so the arrival of twins or more does not increase the entitlement.
Compared with the statutory position after the Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/329), the NHS entitlement is longer in paid duration but similar in flexibility: the statutory baseline is also two weeks and also allows the two single-week split, with the 2024 Regulations having moved the statutory position onto that pattern for births expected on or after 6 April 2024.
The Window for Taking the Two Weeks
The Section 35 occupational window is 56 days from the date of birth or adoption placement, with each week beginning on any chosen day of the week. The statutory window under the Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 is wider at 52 weeks from the date of birth, so an NHS employee who misses the Section 35 window still has the statutory route available for up to 52 weeks. Any part of the two-week leave that falls after the 56-day Section 35 window drops to the statutory flat rate rather than the occupational full-pay rate.
Trusts usually recommend taking at least one week in the first fortnight after the birth to support the primary parent, with the second week flexed later in the window to match childcare needs. The 56-day arithmetic runs on calendar days rather than working days, so bank holidays and weekends count toward the clock.
Taking Leave in One Block or Two
Section 35 allows the two weeks to run as a single fortnight or as two separate one-week blocks, with each week taken in full rather than split further into individual days. The 2024 statutory reform brought the statutory position into line with this, so staff who need to balance a return-to-work date against childcare arrangements can take the first week around the birth and the second week later. Each week has to be notified separately where the two blocks are taken on different dates, with the standard 28-day notice applying to each.
Who Is Eligible for NHS Occupational Paternity Pay?
Occupational paternity pay under Section 35 requires twelve months of continuous NHS service by the qualifying week, which is the fifteenth week before the expected week of childbirth, or the week the adopter is notified of a match. The employee has to be the biological father, the mother's spouse or civil partner, the mother's unmarried partner living with her in a stable relationship, or a nominated carer, and must expect to share main responsibility for the child's upbringing. Employees who meet these conditions receive the full two-week occupational rate.
Where the service test is not met, the employee may still qualify for Statutory Paternity Pay under HMRC rules, which require 26 weeks of continuous employment by the qualifying week and average weekly earnings at or above the National Insurance lower earnings limit (£125 a week in 2025/26). Staff with less than 26 weeks' service have the right to the leave itself but no paid entitlement, unless the trust offers discretionary paid leave above the Handbook minimum.
Continuous NHS Service Across Employers
Section 1 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook treats continuous NHS service across different NHS employers as a single run of reckonable service for family leave entitlements, provided breaks between posts do not exceed three months. A junior doctor rotating through three trusts in a training programme accumulates one continuous service record for Section 35 purposes, and a nurse moving between trusts without a break preserves eligibility for the occupational rate. The three-month break tolerance covers transitions between training grades, parental leave itself, and short gaps caused by rotational posting.
Reckonable service is confirmed through the trust's electronic staff record, which carries NHS-wide employment history across England, Wales, and Scotland. Staff planning paternity leave should confirm their reckonable date with payroll in good time to avoid last-minute surprises at the qualifying week.
Entitlement Below Twelve Months of Service
Employees with less than twelve months of continuous NHS service by the qualifying week fall back to the statutory position. The statutory rate pays the lower of £187.18 per week in 2025/26 (£194.32 from 6 April 2026) or 90% of average weekly earnings. Staff with less than 26 weeks' service by the qualifying week do not qualify for Statutory Paternity Pay at all under current HMRC rules, though the Employment Rights Act 2024 removes that service requirement from 6 April 2026, converting statutory paternity leave into a day-one right across all workplaces including the NHS.
The right to take the two-week leave itself exists regardless of the service record, so the only variable below twelve months of NHS service is the pay level during the leave.
How Do You Apply for NHS Paternity Leave and Pay?
A Section 35 paternity leave application is submitted in writing to the line manager or HR team by the fifteenth week before the expected week of childbirth. The steps are listed below:
- Confirm the Expected Week: Record the expected week of childbirth or the match-notification week from the adoption agency, which anchors the qualifying week and the fifteen-week notice point.
- Submit the Leave Request: Use the trust's internal paternity leave form, or the GOV.UK form SC3 for births (SC4 for adoption), stating the chosen start date and whether the leave is taken as one block or two single weeks.
- Give the 28-Day Notice: Confirm each leave block's start date at least 28 days in advance, with written confirmation as the default route for a durable record.
- Record the Family Relationship: Confirm with HR that the employee is the biological father, spouse, civil partner, unmarried partner, or nominated carer, and expects to share main responsibility for the child's upbringing.
- Co-ordinate With Payroll: Pass the leave dates to payroll so the two-week pay cycle lines up with the correct payslip, and so Statutory Paternity Pay is drawn down against the occupational payment correctly.
- Notify Changes Promptly: Give 28 days' notice of any change to the leave dates, which the Handbook requires for both block one and block two separately.
Trusts typically acknowledge the application within one or two weeks and confirm the exact pay dates once the baby's actual birth date is known.
What Is Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave?
Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave is a statutory entitlement that commenced on 6 April 2026 under the Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024, giving a surviving parent up to 52 weeks of paid leave if the mother or primary adopter dies within the first year of the child's life or placement. The leave is a day-one right with no qualifying service requirement, and the surviving partner steps into a role functionally equivalent to the deceased parent's maternity or adoption entitlement.
Eligibility runs to the biological father, the deceased parent's spouse or civil partner, the deceased's unmarried partner living in a stable relationship, or a nominated carer who assumes main responsibility for the child. NHS Employers guidance confirms that the statutory entitlement sits alongside the Section 35 occupational provision rather than replacing it, so a bereaved NHS partner can combine the two-week Section 35 full-pay entitlement with the 52-week statutory bereaved parent allowance.
Is NHS Paternity Pay Changing in 2026?
NHS occupational paternity pay under Section 35 is not changing in 2026, with the two-week full-pay entitlement, the twelve-month service threshold, and the 56-day window all preserved under the current Handbook. The statutory framework is changing in two material ways from 6 April 2026, both affecting the baseline rather than the NHS occupational layer. Paternity leave becomes a day-one statutory right under the Employment Rights Act 2024, removing the previous 26-week qualifying service requirement from the statutory position. The Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024 adds a 52-week bereaved-partner entitlement for cases where the mother or primary adopter dies within the first year.
The statutory weekly rate rises from £187.18 to £194.32 on 6 April 2026 under HMRC's annual uprating of statutory family payments. The uprating affects staff below the twelve-month NHS service threshold who receive the statutory flat rate rather than the occupational full pay, and it also sets the amount the trust reclaims from HMRC against the full-pay element for all qualifying staff.
How Do Two Weeks at Full Pay Show in Your Monthly Pay?
Two weeks of Section 35 paternity pay show on the monthly payslip as full normal pay for the two-week absence, structured as two lines (occupational paternity pay and the embedded Statutory Paternity Pay) that together match the usual weekly earnings. A salaried NHS staff member on £3,000 gross a month receives the same gross figure for the leave month that they would have received working the full month, because the two-week paternity entitlement replaces the two weeks of normal salary rather than adding alongside it.
A leave period that straddles two calendar months shows a proportional split, with each payslip carrying the paternity line for the number of days worked under the leave in that month. The gross pay for each month is calculated against the average weekly earnings figure established at the fifteenth week before the expected week of childbirth, not against the pay the employee would have earned by working those two weeks.
What Else Changes on Your Payslip While You Are on Leave?
Several payslip lines move while the employee is on paternity leave. Unsocial hours enhancements under Section 2 (30% uplift for weekday nights and Saturdays, 60% for Sundays and public holidays for Bands 4-9; 35% and 69% for Band 3) drop to zero because the shifts are not worked. Overtime, bank shift payments, and on-call allowances all stop for the duration of the leave. High Cost Area Supplement continues on the two weeks of paternity pay because it is a contractual supplement attached to the base salary.
Fixed deductions follow the pay actually received. NHS Pension Scheme employee contributions, PAYE income tax, and employee National Insurance are calculated against the leave-period gross, which for salaried staff is close to the normal monthly figure. Salary sacrifice arrangements such as childcare vouchers and Cycle to Work continue to deduct at their contractual monthly rate because they are contractual variations rather than pay-related deductions.
How Does Paternity Leave Affect Your Pension and Deductions?
Paternity leave does not interrupt NHS Pension Scheme accrual. The two weeks count as pensionable service at the normal rate for the member's section (1995 Section, 2008 Section, or 2015 Scheme), and both employee and employer contributions continue through payroll. The practical effect for a career-average 2015 Scheme member is that the fortnight accrues 1/54 of the equivalent two-week pensionable pay as future retirement income, revalued by CPI plus 1.5% a year under NHS Pensions scheme rules.
Tax and National Insurance apply in the usual way to the paternity pay element. Where the leave spans a tax year boundary, the full-pay element is split across the two tax years using the pay dates, which may trigger small differences in the effective tax rate at either end.
Pension Contributions During Paternity Leave
Employee pension contributions during Section 35 paternity leave are calculated against the actual pensionable pay received in the leave period, which for most salaried staff equals the normal weekly earnings. Employer contributions follow the full notional pensionable pay the employee would have received working through the two weeks, preserving the full accrual rate under the 2015 Scheme's career-average design. The paternity fortnight is explicitly reckonable service under NHS Pensions regulations, so neither the service count nor the pensionable earnings figure is reduced by taking the leave.
Tax and National Insurance on Two Weeks' Pay
Tax and National Insurance on the paternity fortnight run through PAYE in the normal way, calculated against the gross pay for the pay period that includes the leave. The 2026/27 NI rates (8% between the primary threshold and the upper earnings limit, 2% above it, with annualised thresholds of £12,570 and £50,270) apply across the full monthly gross without a separate paternity adjustment. The temporary gross figure stays close to the normal monthly salary for salaried staff, so the deductions column on the payslip usually matches the pre-leave pattern within a few pounds.
What Other Family Leave Can NHS Parents Take?
NHS parents can combine paternity leave with other Section 15, Section 20, and statutory family leave entitlements, depending on the family situation. The alternatives are grouped below:
Shared Parental Leave
Shared Parental Leave (SPL) lets eligible NHS parents share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay from the maternity or adoption allowance after the birth parent or primary adopter curtails their original leave. SPL can be taken in blocks, allowing both parents to alternate periods away from work or take leave simultaneously. NHS occupational Shared Parental Pay has mirrored occupational maternity and adoption pay rates since April 2019, so eligible staff receive the NHS enhanced rate (eight weeks at full pay, 18 weeks at half pay plus Statutory Shared Parental Pay, then 13 weeks at the statutory rate) rather than only the statutory flat rate.
Each SPL block requires at least eight weeks' written notice to the trust, and both partners' employers must receive matching notice forms. The arrangement works best for families splitting the first year of a child's life across both working parents.
Unpaid Parental Leave
Unpaid Parental Leave is a statutory right to 18 weeks of unpaid leave per child, usable at any time until the child's 18th birthday. The leave is normally taken in blocks of a full week or multiples, with a four-week-per-year cap per child unless the employer agrees otherwise. Employment status, pension accrual, and continuous service are protected during the leave, but no pay is received from either the trust or the state.
The entitlement often covers school settling-in periods, short-term care gaps, and family events that fall outside the paternity and maternity windows.
NHS Maternity Pay
NHS Maternity Pay under Section 15 of the Handbook pays eight weeks at full pay, 18 weeks at half pay plus Statutory Maternity Pay (capped at full pay), and 13 weeks at Statutory Maternity Pay only, totalling 39 paid weeks of a 52-week entitlement. The occupational enhancement requires twelve months of continuous NHS service by the eleventh week before the expected week of childbirth. Staff with less than twelve months receive the statutory 39 weeks at the lower of £187.18 (2025/26) or 90% of average weekly earnings for the first six weeks, then the flat rate for the remaining 33 weeks.
How Does NHS Paternity Pay Compare With the Statutory Minimum?
NHS paternity pay is roughly three to four times the statutory minimum for a typical NHS salary. A Band 5 nurse earning £35,000 a year receives approximately £673 a week during the two-week leave under the Section 35 full-pay calculation, compared with the statutory maximum of £187.18 a week in 2025/26 or £194.32 from 6 April 2026, whichever is lower than 90% of average weekly earnings. The gap for a Band 7 clinician earning £49,387 at the top of the band widens further, with the Section 35 rate paying roughly £950 a week against the same statutory ceiling.
The occupational layer only applies to the two-week paternity entitlement itself, so staff planning extended time out of work rely on Shared Parental Leave or Unpaid Parental Leave for the period beyond the fortnight. Within the two-week window, the Section 35 rate is one of the strongest paternity entitlements in the UK public sector.
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