I just created a brand new app project, and I am able to recreate the issue. Something definitely changed with the SDK. If I use the below code, WITHOUT tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, viewForHeaderInSection section: Int) -> UIView? implemented at all, the typical top grouped UITableView padding is there. class ViewController: UIViewController, UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDelegate { private var tableView = UITableView(frame: .zero, style: .grouped) override func viewDidLoad() { super.viewDidLoad() navigationItem.title = "Testing" navigationItem.largeTitleDisplayMode = .never let tableView = UITableView(frame: .zero, style: .grouped) view.addSubview(tableView) tableView.dataSource = self tableView.delegate = self tableView.register(UITableViewCell.self, forCellReuseIdentifier: "reuse") tableView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false tableView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.topAnchor, constant: 0).isActive = true tableView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.bottomAnchor, constant: 0).isActive = true tableView.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leadingAnchor, constant: 0).isActive = true tableView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.trailingAnchor, constant: 0).isActive = true } func numberOfSections(in tableView: UITableView) -> Int { return 2 } func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int { return 1 } func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell { let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "reuse")! cell.textLabel?.text = "Test" return cell } } However, if I simply implement that method the padding either gets deleted completely, or gets reduced (see attached screenshots). For example, returning a simple UILabel gets rid of the padding, as below: func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, viewForHeaderInSection section: Int) -> UIView? { let label = UILabel() label.text = "Test" return label } This definitely wasn't the case on previous Xcode/iOS 15 versions.