UK Statutory Sick Pay

Your employee calls in sick on a Monday morning. They cannot come in. The first question most SME employers get wrong is not “will they recover?” It is “what do I owe them, and from when?”

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is a legal minimum. You cannot pay less than it for eligible employees. But the rules around qualifying conditions, waiting days, documentation, and the payroll process trip up even experienced HR teams.

This guide sets out what you owe, the conditions that apply, and what happens when absence becomes long-term.

What is Statutory Sick Pay and who qualifies for SSP?

Statutory Sick Pay is the minimum amount a UK employer must pay an employee who is too ill to work. It sits in the same category of statutory payments as maternity pay and adoption pay.

It is a legal floor beneath which no contract can go.

To qualify, an employee must meet four conditions simultaneously. They must have an employment contract and have done some work under it.

They must have been sick for at least four days in a row, counting non-working days as well as working ones.

And their average weekly earnings must be at or above the Lower Earnings Limit, which is £125 per week in 2025-26 (equivalent to £6,500 a year).

That last condition catches more people than you might expect. Part-time employees earning less than £125 a week do not qualify for SSP. They are not entitled to nothing; you need to check whether your contract offers anything.

But the statutory minimum does not apply to them.

The four-consecutive-day rule also catches employers out. If an employee is off Thursday and Friday, then the weekend counts, and they return Monday. That is a four-day period of incapacity.

SSP would not actually start until the fourth qualifying day (more on waiting days below), but the period has been triggered.

How much SSP does an employer have to pay, and for how long?

The SSP rate for 2024-25 was £116.75 per week. From 6 April 2025, the start of the 2025-26 tax year, it rises to £123.25 per week. Whichever rate applies, it is the statutory minimum.

You can pay more under a company sick pay scheme, but you cannot pay less.

SSP is calculated on a daily basis. If an employee normally works five days a week, their daily rate is one fifth of the weekly figure: roughly £24.65 in 2025-26. If they work three days, it is one third.

You pay only for the qualifying days they actually miss.

The maximum you will ever pay SSP is 28 weeks. After that, entitlement stops.

If the employee remains unfit for work, they are directed toward Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and you must give them form SSP1 to help them claim it.

One practical detail on duration: two periods of incapacity separated by less than eight weeks count as a single continuous period for SSP purposes.

An employee who was off in September, returned for five weeks, and went off again in October has not reset the 28-week clock.

Why do the three waiting days matter for your payroll processing?

Under current rules, SSP does not start on day one of absence. There is a three-day qualifying wait. These are called waiting days, and they must be days the employee normally works.

The consequence for payroll is that a short absence of three working days may attract no SSP at all. You are paying normal sick leave, or nothing if your contract does not provide for it, but not SSP.

This is changing. The Employment Rights Bill 2025 includes a provision to remove the three waiting days entirely, meaning SSP would be payable from the first qualifying day of absence.

The Bill received considerable parliamentary attention through late 2024 and 2025. Employers should expect this change to come into force at some point in 2026, though the precise commencement date will be set by the Secretary of State.

No date has been confirmed as of April 2026.

The practical impact matters. If waiting days are removed, a two-day absence that currently costs you nothing in SSP will generate a statutory payment obligation. Payroll systems will need to be updated to reflect this.

Some employers with company sick pay schemes already pay from day one.

For them, the mechanics change even if the cost does not.

What documentation do you need before SSP can be paid?

You cannot require an employee to tell you about their sickness in person or on a specific form. What you can do is set a time limit for notification. If you do not set one, the default is seven days.

For absences of seven days or fewer, self-certification is enough. The employee tells you they are sick; that is sufficient for SSP purposes.

You can ask them to complete a self-certification form, but you cannot require a GP fit note.

For absences exceeding seven days, you can request a fit note (formerly called a sick note) from a GP or other appropriate healthcare professional.

You should not ask for a fit note for any absence of seven days or less, as requesting one imposes a cost on the NHS and the employee without legal justification.

Keep records of SSP paid. HMRC may ask you to demonstrate what you have paid and why. Payroll software should record each payment alongside the period it covers and the qualifying days.

What is the SSP1 form and when do you have to issue it?

Form SSP1 tells an employee that they are not entitled to SSP, or that their SSP is ending.

You must issue it in two situations: when the employee does not qualify for SSP at all, and when their SSP is coming to an end, whether because 28 weeks are nearly up or because they have exhausted entitlement in another way.

The purpose of SSP1 is to allow the employee to claim ESA from HMRC. Without it, they cannot make that claim. There is no discretion: if SSP ends or never applied, issue the form.

When an employee is approaching the 28-week limit, issue SSP1 within seven weeks of SSP ending so they have time to make a claim before income stops.

What happens at 28 weeks, and what are your options?

When 28 weeks of SSP end, your statutory obligation stops. The employee is no longer receiving pay from you unless your company sick pay scheme extends beyond SSP.

At this point, three things happen in practice. You issue SSP1. The employee applies for ESA if they remain unable to work.

And you begin to think about whether a phased return, a capability process, or ill-health retirement is the right path.

The honest reality of long-term absence is that SSP is only part of the picture. Most employers have an informal expectation that people return, but few have a documented process for what happens when they cannot.

The 28-week mark is when the absence stops being a payroll question and becomes an HR and potentially legal one.

If you have an occupational health referral process, the 12-week mark is a reasonable trigger. By 20 weeks, you should have a clearer prognosis and a documented plan.

Waiting until SSP ends at 28 weeks to think about next steps creates pressure on both you and the employee.

How does enhanced sick pay differ from SSP, and should you offer it?

Enhanced sick pay means paying more than the statutory minimum, often full or partial salary for a defined period.

It is not legally required for most employers, but its absence can affect recruitment and retention in sectors where it is common.

A typical company sick pay scheme might offer full pay for the first four weeks, then half pay for the next eight, then SSP to 28 weeks.

The exact structure is yours to set, subject to the terms being written into the employment contract.

Two things to be clear on: whatever you offer, it cannot fall below SSP at any point. And if your enhanced scheme exists, apply it consistently.

Treating two employees differently without a documented reason creates exposure.

From a payroll perspective, enhanced sick pay is processed as normal wages. SSP is reported separately on payroll; in most software it will have its own nominal code or category.

How do you get your payroll ready for the SSP changes ahead?

Check your payroll system is set up to calculate SSP correctly for 2025-26, including the uprated rate of £123.25 per week from April 2025.

Confirm whether your system is ready to handle day-one SSP when the Employment Rights Bill changes take effect.

If you do not have a company sick pay policy in writing, draft one.

It does not need to be elaborate, but it should specify the notification process, what you pay during short and long-term absence, and at what point you will request a fit note.

If an employee is already past week 12 of absence, book an occupational health referral this week rather than waiting for the 28-week clock to run out.

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Frequently asked questions

Can I reclaim SSP from HMRC?

For most employers, no. The SSP Percentage Threshold Scheme that allowed reclaim was abolished in 2014. The only current exception is small employers affected by COVID-19 statutory sick pay under the temporary rebate scheme, which has now closed. Standard SSP is a cost borne by the employer.

Do I have to pay SSP to a zero-hours worker?

Yes, if they meet the qualifying conditions. Zero-hours workers on an employment contract (not self-employed) qualify for SSP if their average weekly earnings over the previous eight weeks meet the Lower Earnings Limit of £125 per week. The calculation uses actual earnings averaged over that period.

What if an employee is sick during annual leave?

Annual leave continues to accrue during sick leave. If an employee becomes sick while on annual leave, they may reclaim those leave days as annual leave and take them at another time, but they need to follow the usual sickness notification process and, where applicable, provide a fit note.

When will the Employment Rights Bill waiting day changes take effect?

The Employment Rights Bill 2025 proposes removing the three waiting days so SSP is payable from day one. As of April 2026, no commencement date has been set. The change will be brought into force by statutory instrument. Employers should monitor HMRC and BEIS guidance for the confirmed date.

What are the exceptions where an employee does not qualify for SSP?

Employees do not qualify if they earn below the Lower Earnings Limit, have already received 28 weeks of SSP in a linked period, are receiving Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance, are in legal custody, or went off sick during a trade dispute at their workplace. In all these cases, issue form SSP1.