Paternity Benefit
Paternity Benefit
Paternity Benefit
i. Self-Employed Persons
Qualifying for Your Paternity Benefit
To receive a Paternity Benefit, you must be a registered insured person who has fathered a child born on or after June 1, 2025.
As a self-employed person you must:
- Have made contributions totaling no less than $1,200 in the previous year.
- If you are, or were previously, also an employed person and you do not satisfy the required self-employed contribution threshold for the year, all contributions paid in both capacities — employed and self-employed — will be combined when assessing your eligibility.
Supporting documents required (all applicants):
To support your claim you must provide the following:
- A copy of the Certificate of Confinement issued by a registered medical practitioner stating the actual date of birth, or a certified copy of the child’s Birth Certificate showing your name as father.
- A signed letter from the mother of the child confirming that you are the father of the child for whom the claim is being made.
- If married: a certified copy of your Marriage Certificate.
- A letter from your employer confirming approval of your paternity leave request (employed persons).
- Your NIS Number and a valid Barbados Identification Card.
ii. Payment of Paternity Benefit
How much will I receive?
The daily rate of Paternity Benefit is 100% of your average insurable weekly earnings, divided by 6.
How long is the benefit paid?
Paternity Benefit is payable for a period of three (3) weeks after the birth of the child. You are entitled to only one Paternity Benefit within any 12-month period. The full three (3) weeks may be taken continuously or split into at least two (2) weeks within the first three (3) months of the child’s birth, and at least one (1) week before the child turns 6 months old.
Benefit is not payable for any period during which you engage in remunerative (paid) work and must be claimed within 6 months of the birth of the child. Paternity Benefit is not affected by any additional payments your employer may make to you during paternity leave.
Where the mother of the child dies during or immediately after confinement, an eligible father may extend his paternity leave by an additional three (3) weeks beyond the standard three-week entitlement and may be entitled to any unclaimed maternity benefit for that period may also be applied for where a maternity benefit application was in place prior to the mother’s death. An application must be made in the manner required by the Director of National Insurance.
Protection of employment
Your employment is protected during your paternity leave period. Your employer may not dismiss you, give you notice of dismissal, or require you to resign on the ground that you have requested or taken paternity leave.
Child Grant
What is the Child Grant?
The Child Grant (formerly the Maternity Grant) is a $1,280 lump-sum payment available where neither parent qualifies for the contributory Paternity or Maternity Benefit. The grant is gender-neutral and may be paid to the primary caregiver of the child.
The child is entitled to a Child Grant in the prescribed amount where:
- The mother is not an insured person or she is an insured person who does not satisfy the contribution conditions for Maternity Benefit
- The father does not satisfy the contribution conditions for Paternity Benefit
- Either parent is an uninsured person.
Who receives the Child Grant?
- The grant is payable to the mother of the child as the primary caregiver.
- Where the mother is deceased, unavailable, or unable to care for the newborn, the grant is payable to the father.
- Where both parents are deceased, unavailable, or unable to care for the newborn, the grant is payable to such alternate primary provider of care as the Board may determine.
How to Claim a Paternity Benefit
Step-by-step
- Notify your employer in writing at least 4 weeks before your requested leave start date.
- Collect the Paternity Benefit application form from the NISSS office at Frank Walcott Building, Culloden Road, St. Michael.
- Assemble all required supporting documents (see Section 1 above).
- Submit your completed application to the NISSS within 6 months of the birth of your child. Applications submitted after this period cannot be processed.
- Do not delay — benefit is not payable for any day more than 2 days before your application date.
Further information
For further information, please visit call our Customer Service team at 467-4647 or 431-7400.