This article explains each part of an employee's bereavement pay claim: the date of the child's death, statutory parental bereavement pay (shown on screen as SBP), and what has been paid in each payroll period. It covers claims for both Great Britain and Northern Ireland. For how claims are created, who can edit them and what the icons do, see Parental payments.
Statutory parental bereavement pay can be paid for up to two weeks to an employee whose child dies under the age of 18, or who has a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. The leave must be taken within 56 weeks of the child's death. In Northern Ireland, from 6 April 2026, it also covers miscarriage.
There's no occupational (top-up) pay for bereavement, so a bereavement claim has no pay schedule and no keep-in-touch days.
1. Bereavement claims list
Open the employee's record and click Parental payments > Bereavement pay. Great Britain and Northern Ireland claims are shown in one list, newest bereavement first. A claim with no date of death recorded appears at the bottom.
Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
Date of bereavement | The date of the child's death. |
Region | Great Britain or Northern Ireland. The two regions run separate bereavement schemes, with separate records. |
Weeks used / Weeks due | Weeks of bereavement leave taken so far / weeks of SBP due |
Money due | The amount of SBP due for the claim. |
Click anywhere on the row to open the claim page.
2. The claim page
The breadcrumb names the claim by the date of the child's death, for example "SBP claim (03/08/2026)". Northern Ireland claims are named "SBP NIRE claim".
Each claim page has two tabs:
Tab | What it shows |
|---|---|
Statutory bereavement pay (SBP) (or (SBP NIRE) for Northern Ireland) | The date of the child's death, the claim summary, any exclusion reason, and the relevant earnings. |
Claim details | The payments made in each payroll period, and the weeks in the bereavement pay period. |
3. Date of child's death
The Statutory bereavement pay claim card shows the Date of child's death. The bereavement pay period is worked out from this date.
To change it, click the pencil icon, enter the date and click Save. The date:
Must be before any bereavement leave recorded for the employee.
Must be no more than 56 weeks before any bereavement leave.
If you see a message about either of these, check the date against the employee's bereavement leave.
Northern Ireland claims
A Northern Ireland claim card has two extra fields, which you change in the same way:
Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
Workplace post code | The postcode of the employee's workplace, which is sent to HMRC. It must contain BT and be include the space (for example, BT1 5GS). |
Miscarriage | Whether the claim is for a miscarriage. Defaults to No. |
4. Claim summary
The Claim summary card shows the figures payroll has calculated for the claim. You can't edit them.
Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
Average weekly earnings | The figure SBP is based on (see 6. Relevant earnings). |
Pay SBP up to | The date SBP has been paid up to. You can change this date for a period in 7. SBP payments per payroll period. |
SBP weeks due / SBP weeks paid | The weeks of SBP due for the claim, and paid so far. |
SBP money due / SBP money paid | The amount of SBP due for the claim, and paid so far. |
SBP recoverable | The amount of SBP you can reclaim from HMRC. |
NIC compensation | The extra amount that employers who qualify for Small Employers' Relief can reclaim, as compensation for employer National Insurance. |
5. Exclusion reasons
If SBP can't be paid for a claim, the reason is shown on the SBP exclusion (SBP1) card. The reasons come from HMRC's SBP1 form, which is why they're worded as if you're talking to the employee.
Reason | Can you select it? |
|---|---|
A: Not continuously employed for 26 weeks. | No. It's set by the calculation. |
C: You did not provide suitable evidence in time. | Yes |
E: You worked during the Bereavement Pay Period. | Yes |
F: Earnings too low. | No. It's set by the calculation. |
From 6 April 2026, SBP NIRE has no service or earnings requirement, therefore A+F don’t apply to Northern Ireland.
To record reason C or E, click the pencil icon, select a reason from Exclusion reason and click Save. If the claim already has reason A or F, you can view it but not change it.
Once saved, the claim page shows an Excluded badge next to the breadcrumb, and a banner saying statutory bereavement pay isn't payable for the claim, with the reason. To remove an exclusion, click Clear exclusion, then Save.
6. Relevant earnings
SBP is based on the employee's average weekly earnings over a set period before the child's death. The Relevant earnings card shows how this was worked out.
Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
First day of set period / Last day of set period | The pay period the earnings are taken from: normally the 8 weeks, or 2 monthly pay days, up to the last normal pay day on or before the Saturday of the week before the child's death. |
Earnings in the set period | The employee's earnings in the set period. |
Average weekly earnings | The earnings in the set period converted to a weekly figure. SBP is paid at the statutory weekly rate, or 90% of this figure if that's lower. |
To override the average weekly earnings, click the pencil icon, enter the figure and click Save. An overridden figure stays fixed when payroll is recalculated. You can remove an override by clicking the pencil icon, clearing the figure, then saving.
The pencil icon is greyed out if payroll hasn't calculated the claim's relevant earnings yet.
7. SBP payments per payroll period
Click the Claim details tab. SBP payments per payroll period shows what each payroll period paid: the date SBP was paid up to, the weeks and amount of SBP due, the SBP offset (SBP can be offset against other gross pay at employer level), and the amounts you can reclaim.
To change the date a period has paid SBP up to, click the pencil icon on the row, enter the date in Pay SBP up to and click Save. For example, you might do this when an employee leaves during their bereavement pay period, so the remaining SBP is included in their final pay. Do this before you make them a leaver.
8. Weeks in bereavement pay period
Below the payments, Weeks in bereavement pay period (BPP) lists each week with its SBP amount. The weeks are rebuilt by payroll, and you can't change or override them. If a week was overridden in Cintra iQ in the past, the override is still shown and paid.