Shared parental leave pay calculator 2026/27
Shared Parental Pay splits up to 37 paid weeks between two parents, and each parent’s week is the lower of the flat weekly rate and 90% of that parent’s own average weekly earnings. Each of you is tested on your own earnings, so the two weekly amounts can differ, and the weeks you share come out of the mother’s maternity entitlement.
Statutory pay rates 2026/27
Shared parental pay commences on 6 April 2026, and each parent needs average weekly earnings of at least £129 a week, measured before rounding.
Common questions
How much is shared parental pay in 2026/27?
£194.32 a week for each parent taking it, or 90% of that parent’s average weekly earnings if that is lower, for up to 37 weeks between you. Split as 20 weeks and 17 weeks, on salaries of £35,000 and £30,000, that is £7,189.84 in total before tax and National Insurance.
How do the weeks work?
Shared parental leave comes out of the mother's maternity entitlement: the weeks she does not take can be shared. The 37 paid weeks are the 39 weeks of maternity pay less the 2 weeks that cannot be shared, and you can take them together or one after the other.
Do both parents get paid shared parental leave?
Each of you is paid by your own employer for the weeks you take, and each of you is tested on your own average weekly earnings — so one parent can be paid for their weeks while the other is not, and the two weekly amounts can differ. The 37 paid weeks are a shared pot rather than 37 weeks each, and you can take them at the same time or one after the other.
How are average weekly earnings worked out?
Each parent’s employer averages what it actually paid that parent over a relevant period. That period usually ends with the last pay day on or before the Saturday of the qualifying week — the 15th week before the week the baby is due. It reaches back at least 8 weeks. This page has one figure for each of you, the salary before leave, so it spreads each one evenly over 52 weeks instead. While pay is level, the two averages are the same. They stop matching when that period holds something a salary does not describe: overtime, commission, a shift or on-call premium, a bonus, a pay rise, back pay, unpaid leave, weeks paid at sick pay rates, or an irregular pay pattern. The test is each employer’s own as well, so a parent’s two part-time jobs are averaged separately. A salary that adds them together can clear the lower earnings limit when neither job does. Each employer’s figure is the one that decides what that parent is paid.
Is shared parental pay taxed?
Yes. Each parent’s pay goes through their own payroll like ordinary pay, so income tax, National Insurance and any student loan come off it, and each of you keeps your own tax code.