As an employee, you are entitled to Statuary Sick Pay, or SSP, when you are unable to work. It is important to calculate SSP correctly, so we have put together some useful points to remember:
Rate of SSP
The current rate of SSP is £116.75 for 2024/25 and is set to increase to £118.75 from April 2025 for the tax year 2025/26.
Qualifying criteria
- Be unable to work/sick for at least 3 days in a row, including non-contracted working days.
- Be classed as a worker.
- To earn at least £123 a week (2024/25) which is set to increase to £125 a week from 2025/26.
- You must provide notice to your employer. HMRC rules stipulate that the employee should provide notice within 7 days of being sick and SSP can be withheld if notice is not provided.
Fit notes
If an employee is off work for more than 7 days in a row, employers can ask for a fit note (or a sick note). A fit note can be issued by a hospital doctor, GP, physiotherapist, registered nurse, or pharmacist.
How to calculate
Firstly, you need to know the days of the week your employee works. These are classed as qualifying days. If an employee works Monday-Friday, then any sick days for Saturday and Sunday are not qualifying days.
The first 3 days are classed as waiting days and SSP is not payable. SSP is paid from the 4th day.
Working example – employee works Monday-Friday and is off sick from 13th to 24th January 2025. They have provided the correct notice and fit note. We take the SSP rate of £116.76 / 5 days = £23.35 per day SSP
| 13th to 15th January | 3 x Waiting Days | |
| 16th to 24th January | 7 Days | |
| SSP TO BE PAID | Daily Rate £23.35 | Total for 7-day Period £163.45 |
Linked periods
If your employee were to return to work within 8 weeks of the last sick period and was to be off sick again for 4 days or more in a row, this is classed as a linked period. This period of sickness links to the previous period and therefore there are no waiting days and SSP is paid from day one.
How long can an employee be off sick?
There is no defined date for long-term sickness, but SSP is only paid for the first 28 weeks of sickness. At the end of the 28 week period, employees will be issued with an SSP1 Form.
What is an SSP1 form?
An SSP1 form will be issued by an employer to an employee. This is issued to help the Department of Work and Pensions decide on any applicable benefits the employee could claim. The form should be issued 7 days before SSP finishes.
Do all employees qualify for SSP?
In some circumstances, employees won’t qualify for SSP. This could be because they earn less than £123 per week. You also cannot claim SSP if you are on any form of parental leave.
Can employers claim back SSP?
This is a question I am still asked on a regular basis, despite a rule change in April 2014. Small employers used to be able to claim back SSP, but this is no longer the case.
Useful Links
Most software providers will have built-in technology to calculate SSP, but if you are manually calculating your figures, you can use the SSP government calculator to check your figures:
Calculate your employee’s statutory sick pay – GOV.UK
I hope this guide has been useful and do feel free to reach out to discuss statutory sick pay or any other payroll requirements.
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the Author and other professionals may express different views. They may not be the views of Lambert Chapman LLP. The material in the article cannot and should not be considered as exhaustive. Professional advice should be sought in connection with any of the issues contained in the article and the implementation of any actions.