How-to
Opening a statutory leave absence
For SMP/SPP/SPL/SAP/SSP/SBP/Carers/Jury — open an absence with the right qualifying date and the system runs eligibility + generates the payment schedule automatically.
Open a statutory absence
- Open People > Statutory leave.
- Pick the statutory type (SMP, SPP, SPL, SAP, SSP, SBP, Carer's, Jury Service).
- Click New absence.
- Fill in:
- Employee — search by name
- Start date — the date the absence begins
- Expected end date — defaulted from statutory duration; editable
- For SMP/SAP: Expected week of childbirth (EWC) or matching date
- The form shows inline eligibility: continuous service weeks, Average Weekly Earnings (AWE), and pass/fail with the reason.
- If eligible, click Open absence — the system writes the absence row + a per-week payment schedule.
How AWE is calculated
AWE = average gross pay across the 8-week relevant period before the qualifying week (varies by type — e.g. SMP uses week 25 of pregnancy). The calculator reads the contract history and pay run lines for that window.
If AWE is below the Lower Earnings Limit (£125/wk FY26-27), the employee is not eligible. SSP additionally requires AWE ≥ LEL.
What happens in payroll
When you next calculate a pay run that overlaps with active statutory payments, those amounts appear automatically as statutory_pay in the per-employee line and feed into PAYE + NI calculations. Most statutory pay is employer-recoverable through HMRC (small employer's relief — coming a future update).