An employer can usually reclaim 92% of employees’ Statutory Maternity, Statutory Paternity, Statutory Adoption, Statutory Parental Bereavement and Statutory Shared Parental Pay. If the business qualifies for Small Employers’ relief, this figure can increase to 103%. 

Small Employers’ relief is available if the business paid £45,000 or less in Class 1 National Insurance (ignoring any reductions like Employment Allowance) in the last complete tax year before:

• the ‘qualifying week’ – the 15th week (Sunday to Saturday) before the week of the due date;
• the ‘matching week’ – the week (Sunday to Saturday) your employee was told they’d been matched with a child by the adoption agency;
• the date on the official notification if your employee is adopting a child from another country; or
• the ‘qualifying week’ – the week (Sunday to Saturday) before the death of the child or stillbirth, for Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay.

A claim for statutory payment assistance is usually made by including the claim on the Employer Payment Summary (EPS) that you submit to HMRC. You can also write to the PAYE Employer Office to ask for a repayment if you cannot set off the payments against the current year’s liabilities. You cannot do this until the start of the next tax year.

You can also apply to HMRC to pay you in advance if you cannot afford to make statutory payments.