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Parental Pay

Question for Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

UIN 65958, tabled on 18 October 2022

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many claimants of Statutory Paternity Pay there have been in each financial year since 2010-11.

Answered on

26 October 2022

Information provided by employers to HMRC show the number of individuals in receipt of Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP). This data provides a broad indication of take-up but does not include anyone taking unpaid paternity leave.

Table 1: Individuals in receipt of Statutory Paternity Pay, 2015/16 to 2021/22 (the latest year for which full year data is available)

Year (April to March)

No. of individuals in receipt of SPP

2015-16

215,100

2016-17

219,900

2017-18

212,700

2018-19

201,800

2019-20

208,000

2020-21

176,400

2021-22

204,200

  1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
  2. Figures are based on the total number of individuals in a given year, irrespective of when the payment first started. Some individuals will be counted across two years.

In 2019, the Government consulted on high-level options for reforming the parental leave and pay system, including making changes to Paternity Leave. We are currently considering responses to the consultation and will respond in due course.

Answered by

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy