UK Statutory Pay Rates 2026/27: SMP, Redundancy
HMRC statutory pay 2026/27 - SMP £194.32/week, redundancy cap £751, Blind Person's Allowance £3,250. What changed from 2025/26 and who it affects.
Every April HMRC and DWP uprate a set of statutory pay and allowance rates. The 2026/27 uprates took effect on 6 April 2026 (Income Tax / NI changes) and, for benefits paid by employers to employees, on the first pay period that falls in the new tax year. This guide covers the three consumer-facing changes: Statutory Maternity Pay, the statutory redundancy weekly cap, and the Blind Person’s Allowance.
Statutory Maternity Pay — £194.32/week
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid for up to 39 weeks by your employer, split into two phases:
- Weeks 1–6 — 90% of your Average Weekly Earnings (AWE), uncapped
- Weeks 7–39 — the lower of the SMP weekly rate OR 90% of AWE
The SMP weekly rate for 2026/27 is £194.32, up from £187.18 in 2025/26.
What that means in cash:
- Weekly uprate: +£7.14/week
- Full entitlement (33 weeks at the rate): +£235.62 vs 2025/26
- Total possible SMP over 39 weeks at the statutory rate: £8,015.84 (33 × £194.32 + 6 weeks at 90% AWE)
SMP is taxable income — Income Tax + Employee National Insurance apply. Employers reclaim up to 92% of SMP from HMRC (or 103% if they qualify for Small Employers’ Relief).
Eligibility recap
You qualify for SMP if, by the end of the 15th week before your due date (“qualifying week”):
- You’ve worked continuously for your employer for at least 26 weeks
- Your Average Weekly Earnings are at or above the Lower Earnings Limit (the NI LEL; check the current figure on gov.uk)
- You give your employer at least 28 days’ notice of when you want leave to start
If you don’t qualify for SMP, you may be eligible for Maternity Allowance (paid by DWP, same weekly rate as SMP for most claimants).
Shared rate for other statutory parental pays
The same £194.32/week figure applies to:
- Statutory Paternity Pay (1 or 2 weeks)
- Statutory Adoption Pay (weeks 7–52 — 52 weeks max for adoption)
- Statutory Shared Parental Pay (up to 37 weeks split between parents)
- Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (2 weeks)
Bigger picture and your individual figures: maternity pay calculator.
Statutory redundancy — weekly cap £751
When your employer calculates statutory redundancy pay, gross weekly earnings are capped — any portion above the cap is ignored.
| 2025/26 | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| £719/week | £751/week |
The change took effect for any redundancy where the dismissal date is on or after 6 April 2026. If you were dismissed before that date the £719 cap applies even if the payment is made later.
The formula
Statutory redundancy pay = your capped weekly earnings × a service multiplier, using your age and years of continuous service:
- 0.5 × weekly pay for each full year of service under age 22
- 1.0 × weekly pay for each full year aged 22 to 40
- 1.5 × weekly pay for each full year aged 41+
Maximum 20 years of service count. With the 2026/27 cap of £751, the theoretical maximum statutory payout is £751 × 1.5 × 20 = £22,530.
Tax treatment
Statutory redundancy pay is tax-free up to £30,000 under the termination payments rules — this limit is separate from the weekly cap. Anything above £30,000 in total termination payments (including ex-gratia / PILON) is taxed through PAYE.
Work out your own statutory entitlement + the take-home after tax on larger packages: redundancy calculator.
Non-statutory (enhanced) redundancy
Many employers offer enhanced redundancy terms that pay more than the statutory minimum — higher multipliers, uncapped weekly pay, or longer service credit. These are contractual and separate from statutory. HMRC still applies the £30,000 tax-free threshold to the total termination payment regardless of statutory/enhanced split.
Blind Person’s Allowance — £3,250
Blind Person’s Allowance (BPA) is an extra tax-free amount added to your Personal Allowance if you:
- Are on a local authority register of blind people (England & Wales), or
- Are certified as blind or severely sight-impaired by an eye specialist (Scotland / Northern Ireland), or
- Are unable to do work for which eyesight is essential
For 2026/27 the BPA is £3,250, up from £3,130 in 2025/26 — an extra £120 tax-free per year.
In combination with the Personal Allowance of £12,570, someone claiming BPA has an effective tax-free income of £15,820 before Income Tax starts.
How to claim
- First-time claim: call HMRC on 0300 200 3301 (Income Tax helpline) or write to HMRC with your certification details.
- HMRC adjusts your tax code — usually to something like 1582L (£15,820 ÷ 10) instead of 1257L.
Transferable between spouses/civil partners
Like the Marriage Allowance, BPA is transferable. If the eligible person doesn’t earn enough to use all of their PA + BPA, the surplus can pass to a spouse or civil partner. The claim for transfer is made jointly via HMRC.
On the salary calculator the BPA toggle is under “More options → Blind Person’s Allowance” — the calculation uses the 2026/27 £3,250 figure automatically when you select 2026/27 as the tax year.
Employer reminder — payroll software updates
If you run payroll, make sure your software has pulled down HMRC’s 2026/27 rates pack — specifically:
- SMP, SPP, ShPP, SAP, SPBP — all at £194.32/week
- Statutory redundancy weekly cap — £751 for dismissals from 6 April 2026
- BPA — £3,250 (reflects automatically in Tax Codes moved from 1313LB → 1582LB type codes)
- Class 2 NI — new £3.65/week rate, £7,105 SPT (for self-employed clients)
HMRC’s complete reference: Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027.
Related
- What’s changing in 2026/27 — full tax-year uprate overview
- Maternity pay calculator — work out SMP + take-home after tax
- Redundancy calculator — statutory + enhanced + tax-free £30k band
- Salary calculator — BPA toggle + full 2026/27 take-home