2. Who is eligible

Students are eligible for maternity, paternity, adoption and parental bereavement benefits if they pass the basic rules for these. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook for details. What follows is a brief outline of the qualifying conditions.

Statutory maternity pay

You can get statutory maternity pay (SMP) if:

•you are pregnant or have recently had a baby;
•you have worked for the same employer for 26 weeks ending with the 15th week before your expected week of birth;
•your average gross earnings are at least £120 a week (April 2021 rate); and
•you give your employer the correct notice.

Maternity allowance

You can get maternity allowance (MA) if you cannot get SMP and:

•you are pregnant or have recently had a baby;
•you have worked, either as an employee or self-employed, for at least 26 weeks out of the 66 weeks before the expected week of birth; and
•your average earnings are at least £30 a week.

Statutory paternity pay

You can get statutory paternity pay (SPP) if:

•you are the child’s father or partner of the child’s mother and you will be caring for the child or supporting the mother;
•you have worked for the same employer for 41 weeks before the baby is born;
•your average gross earnings are at least £120 a week (April 2021 rate); and
•you give your employer the correct notice.

You can also get SPP if you are adopting a child – you cannot get SPP for adoption and statutory adoption pay (SAP) at the same time, although one member of a couple can claim SAP while the other claims SPP (for adoption).

Statutory adoption pay

You can get SAP if:

•you are adopting a child;
•you have worked for the same employer for 26 weeks ending with the week in which you are told you have been matched with a child for adoption;
•your average gross earnings are at least £120 a week (April 2021 rate); and
•you give your employer the correct notice.

Statutory shared parental pay

You can get statutory shared parental pay (SSPP) if you are caring for a child and either:

•you are the mother of the child or have adopted the child, and you have reduced your MA, SMP or SAP period; or
•you are the father of the child or the partner of the mother/adopter and your partner has reduced her/his MA, SMP or SAP period.

Your partner must also meet employment and earnings tests. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook for more details.

Statutory parental bereavement pay

You can get statutory parental bereavement pay if:

•on or after 6 April 2020, your child (under 18) died or was stillborn (after 24 weeks of pregnancy);
•you have worked for the same employer for 26 weeks ending with the week before your child died and you still work for them on the day your child died;
•your average gross earnings are at least £120 a week (April 2021 rate); and
•you give your employer the correct notice.