If you qualify for SPP (statutory paternity pay during the ordinary period of paternity leave), you need to show your employer evidence of this by completing a self-certification form (SC4 Becoming an Adoptive Parent) which states that you meet the conditions to qualify for SPP, and that you have chosen to take SPP in relation to this adoption rather than Statutory Adoption Pay.
You must provide your employer with this information at least 28 days before the date that the paternity leave is due to begin, or as soon as reasonably practicable if that is not possible.
However, you may have agreed with your employer that your pay and leave should begin on a pre-determined date, only to find that the placement is not made by that date. In this case, you must give your employer notice as soon as reasonably practicable, that the placement has not been made. You can then choose a new date on which to begin your SPP. It can start on:
Notice of this new date must be given as soon as is reasonably practicable, and you must take your paternity leave in a time period which begins on the day the child is placed in your care and ends 56 days after that date.
If your employer requests it, you must give them the date that the child was placed in your care as soon as reasonably practicable.
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