United Kingdom – Changes To Maternity, Paternity, Adoption Leave And Sick Leave Pay Rates As Well As Student Loan And Post Graduate Loan Ceilings
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New Maternity/Paternity/Parental Pay For 2025-26
| Type of Payment or Recovery | 2025 to 2026 rate |
|---|---|
| SMP – weekly rate for first 6 weeks | 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings |
| SMP – weekly rate for remaining weeks | £187.18 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower |
| Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) – weekly rate | £187.18 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower |
| Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) – weekly rate for first 6 weeks | 90% of employee’s average weekly earnings |
| SAP – weekly rate for remaining weeks | £187.18 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower |
| Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) | £187.18 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower |
| Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) – weekly rate | £187.18 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower |
| Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (SNCP) – weekly rate | £187.18 or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower |
| SMP, SPP, ShPP, SAP, SPBP or SNCP – proportion of your payments you can recover from HMRC | 92% of your total Class 1 National Insurance (both employee and employer contributions) is above £45,000 for the previous tax year 103% if your total Class 1 National Insurance for the previous tax year is £45,000 or lower |
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
The same weekly SSP rate applies to all employees. However, the amount you must actually pay an employee for each day they’re off work due to illness (the daily rate) depends on the number of ‘qualifying days’ they work each week. Use the SSP calculator to work out your employee’s sick pay, or use these rates.
| Number of Qualifying Days Per Week | 2025 to 2026 Unrounded Daily Rates |
|---|---|
| 7 | £16.9642 |
| 6 | £19.7916 |
| 5 | £23.75 |
| 4 | £29.6875 |
| 3 | £39.5833 |
| 2 | £59.375 |
| 1 | £118.75 |
Post Graduate Loan Thresholds
There is no change in the Post Graduate threshold from 2024/25 to 2025/26.
| Loan Threshold | 2024/25 | 2025/26 | Annual/ Monthly / week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Post Gratuate | £21,000.00 | £21,000.00 | Annually |
| £1,750.00 | £1,750.00 | Monthly | |
| £403.84 | £403.84 | Weekly |
The deduction percentage for PG Loan is 6%
Student Loan Threshold
Effective from 6th April 2025, student loan threshold for Plan 1, 2 and 4 will be increased as follows:
| Loan Threshold | 2024/25 | 2025/26 | Annual/ Monthly / week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | £2 | £26,065.00 | Annually |
| £1834.58 | £2,172.0 | Monthly | |
| £423.36 | £501.25 | Weekly | |
| Plan 2 | - | £28,470.00 | Annually |
| - | £2,372.50 | Monthly | |
| - | 547.50 | Weekly | |
| Plan 4 | £27,660 | £32,745.00 | Annually |
| £2305.00 | £2,728.75 | Monthly | |
| £531.92 | £629.71 | Weekly |
The deduction percentages for student loans for Plan1, Plan 2 & plan 4 is 9%.
Please contact your Mercans’ services delivery team for any additional information regarding the implications of the above change.
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United Kingdom – Changes To Maternity, Paternity, Adoption Leave And Sick Leave Pay Rates As Well As Student Loan And Post Graduate Loan Ceilings
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