Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) helps companies guarantee that their workers recover well and reduce the spread of disease among coworkers.
Many small firms are uncertain about where and when their duties cease if an employee is absent due to illness since SSP is still a complex area of employment law.
This page defines SSP and explains who is affected, who is exempt, how it works, and how much it costs.
Statutory Sick Pay: What Is It?
According to Statutory Sick Compensate, you must pay an employee who cannot work due to sickness £99.35 weekly for a maximum of 28 weeks.
You may decide to pay your workers more during their illness, but you cannot provide them less if your firm has its own contractual or occupational sick pay program (which must be included in any employment contract). The legal minimum is SSP.
Employees who want to participate in SSP must:
- have a contract of employment
- have performed a job for the company
- Have missed four or more days of work due to illness.
- Make an average weekly income of at least £123 (for the tax year 2022/23).
- have informed you of their illness within the period you specified
An employee could sometimes not be qualified for SSP, such as if they:
- Are now getting Maternity Allowance or Statutory Maternity Pay
- Are they absent from work owing to a pregnancy-related illness within four weeks of their baby’s due date?
- Were detained or on strike the day their illness first appeared
- Are exempt from paying National Insurance payments.
- Employment and Support Allowance within 12 weeks of beginning or
- Returning to work for you if you have performed work outside the European Union
Discover more about small business payroll
How does it function?
If an employee misses their first three days of work due to illness and those days fall on a workday, SSP is not paid for those days. Regular illness episodes, however, may be connected if they last four days or more each and are separated by no more than eight weeks.
Additionally, a day cannot be used as a sick day if the employee has already reported working on it.
Your employee is eligible to receive up to £99.35 each week for a maximum of 28 weeks when SSP becomes available on the fourth day. This amount should be paid on the same schedule as your employee’s earnings, with any relevant income tax and National Insurance deductions. SSP is remunerated daily.
You should restart paying an employee at their regular rate as soon as they start working again. Although it is not required by law, keeping track of SSP payments and absences is a good idea in case a pay dispute arises.
No matter how long an employee is absent due to illness, SSP has no impact on their ability to earn statutory holidays. They should be permitted to roll over any unused holidays into the next year.
May I request evidence?
Only when an employee has been absent for more than seven days straight may you get a fit note. A doctor or hospital must produce a fit note, or if you agree, you may accept an Allied Health Professional Health and Work report as evidence.
Can you support a government assertion about SSP and the coronavirus?
The Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme allows employers that provided SSP to their workers during the epidemic to recoup those costs. The program, however, came to an end on March 24, 2022.
Your workers are no longer eligible for SSP as of the same date if they are self-isolating as a result of Covid-19 unless they are ill and unable to work.
