Statutory Sick Pay

How does Statutory Sick Pay differ from other sick pay?

UK Statutory Sick Pay rules set a minimum that the employer pays to an eligible employee for up to 28 weeks. A contractual sick-pay scheme can provide a higher payment or different terms. Sick-pay protections in other countries follow their own eligibility, funding, and payment rules.

SSP and contractual sick pay

Contractual sick pay does not automatically create a second full payment on top of SSP. The employee’s SSP entitlement is tested under the statutory rules, and the contract or company policy then determines how any enhancement works. A scheme might include SSP within a higher total payment, top up SSP to a stated level, or apply its own conditions to the enhanced portion. Those conditions cannot reduce the SSP due to an employee who meets the statutory test.

Start with the scheme wording. It should explain the amount, duration, eligibility conditions, and whether the stated company payment includes SSP. If the enhancement is discretionary, the policy should also explain how the employer decides whether to pay it. Acas advises employees to check their contract for these terms, while treating SSP as the minimum for an eligible employee.

Hypothetical example: A company policy promises total sick pay of £200 a week and expressly says that this amount includes any SSP due. If the employee’s separately calculated SSP for that week is £100, payroll pays £200 in total: £100 is the statutory component and £100 is the contractual top-up. It does not pay £200 plus another £100 of SSP. A policy that promises “SSP plus £200” would produce a different result, which is why the exact wording matters.

Paid sick leave outside the UK

SSP is the name of the UK scheme, not a portable international benefit. An employer cannot apply the UK eligibility test, rate, or duration simply because another country’s rules or a company policy use the phrase “sick pay.” The worker’s location and the law that governs the employment relationship determine which route must be checked.

That route may provide employer-funded paid sick time, salary continuation, an insurance benefit, or a combination in which the payer changes during the absence. Other forms of leave can serve a different purpose: paid time off may combine several kinds of absence in one balance, while medical or family leave may protect time away from work without guaranteeing the same pay. The relevant rules can also differ in how leave accrues, what evidence is needed, who qualifies, and which organization makes the payment.

The United States and Germany illustrate how differently these protections work. The US federal baseline has no general paid-sick-leave requirement and treats qualifying FMLA leave as unpaid, while narrower federal-contract rules and state or local laws may require paid time. Germany follows a separate legal route in which a qualifying employee may first receive continued remuneration from the employer, with statutory health-insurance sickness benefit potentially becoming relevant later for eligible members. Neither system should be calculated or recorded as UK SSP.

Who can get Statutory Sick Pay?

SSP entitlement follows a sequence of factual checks under current UK rules: the person’s status and employment relationship, whether work has started, the timing of the sickness absence, the agreed work pattern, and any relevant exclusion or multiple-contract rule. A job title or contract label cannot answer the question by itself.

Employment and absence conditions

The person must be classed as an employee for SSP purposes, have an employment contract, and have done some work for the employer. Some groups can be treated as employees under specific SSP rules, so payroll should use the current official eligibility and employment-type guidance rather than relying only on whether someone is described informally as a “worker.” Genuinely self-employed work does not itself create an SSP entitlement because there is no employer liable to make that statutory payment for the work.

The sickness must then make the employee incapable of work for at least one complete qualifying day: a day they would normally be expected to work. If an employee works for any part of the day and then goes home sick, that date is not a full SSP sickness day. If they remain too ill to work, their next complete qualifying day can be the first day considered for payment.

For absences governed by the rules effective from 6 April 2026, the old lower earnings eligibility threshold and three waiting days have been removed. An eligible employee can receive SSP from the first full qualifying sickness day. Average weekly earnings still affect how much SSP is due, but low earnings no longer prevent the employee from passing the eligibility test. The change and its start date are set out in the UK government’s current SSP reform guidance.

An absence that began before 6 April 2026 may fall under special transition rules. In that case, payroll should follow the applicable transition branch instead of assuming that the new day-one calculation applies to the whole absence.

Different work arrangements and exclusions

Part-time, agency, temporary, casual, short-term, and zero-hours arrangements do not automatically disqualify someone from SSP. The employer must first decide whether the person is an employee, or is treated as one for SSP purposes, and then apply the ordinary start-of-work and sickness conditions. The particular arrangement can still affect which days qualify, how average weekly earnings are calculated, and how long entitlement can continue. HMRC’s employment-types guidance provides the relevant branches for arrangements that do not fit a standard permanent schedule.

Example: A zero-hours employee reports a week of sickness. The employer should not refuse SSP solely because the contract has no guaranteed hours. It should confirm that the person meets the employee and absence tests, identify the qualifying days under the agreed working arrangements, and use the applicable earnings method. Depending on those facts, the employee may qualify even though their schedule and pay vary.

An employee cannot receive more than the maximum 28 weeks of SSP, and someone receiving Statutory Maternity Pay is excluded from SSP for that period. Other exclusions can apply. Employers should check the current eligibility guidance for the employee’s specific situation instead of extending one exclusion to a different type of work or statutory payment.

More than one job or contract

Having two jobs or contracts does not automatically produce two SSP payments. The first question is whether the earnings from those contracts are aggregated for National Insurance purposes. That decision controls whether payroll applies one combined SSP test or tests each contract separately; it can require a fact-specific review where employers or contracts are connected.

If earnings are aggregated, the employee must be incapable of working under all the aggregated contracts. Average weekly earnings are assessed across the combined arrangement, and one SSP payment covers those contracts. If earnings are not aggregated, each contract has its own eligibility and earnings calculation. The employee can then receive a separate SSP payment for each contract they are unable to perform while continuing to work under another contract. HMRC sets out both branches in its current guidance for employees with one or more contracts.

Caption: UK SSP treatment for multiple contracts depends on whether earnings are aggregated for National Insurance purposes and which work the employee cannot perform. This diagram does not decide whether a real arrangement must be aggregated. HMRC, Statutory Sick Pay: how different employment types affect what you pay · HMRC Statutory Payments Manual, SPM190400

Hypothetical example: An employee has a warehouse contract that requires lifting and a separate office contract involving desk work. An injury prevents the employee from doing the warehouse job but does not stop the office work. If the earnings are not aggregated, the warehouse contract is tested separately and may generate SSP, while the office contract does not because the employee remains capable of doing that job. If the earnings must be aggregated, being unable to perform only the warehouse contract does not satisfy the requirement to be incapable under all aggregated contracts, so no SSP is due for that combined arrangement. The example does not determine whether any real contracts must be aggregated.

How is Statutory Sick Pay calculated and paid?

The calculation has two stages. Payroll first establishes the employee’s weekly SSP rate from average weekly earnings and the statutory cap for the relevant tax year. It then allocates that weekly rate across the qualifying days covered by the sickness absence.

Weekly rate, average earnings, and qualifying days

For 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, weekly SSP is the lower of £123.25 and 80% of the employee’s average weekly earnings. The £123.25 figure is a tax-year cap, not a guaranteed payment: an employee whose 80% figure is lower receives that lower weekly rate. Because the statutory amount can change annually, payroll should match the rate to the dates of the absence rather than reuse a prior year’s figure.

Average weekly earnings normally come from Class 1 National Insurance earnings in a relevant period of at least eight weeks. The period ends with the last normal payday before the first complete day of sickness and begins after the last normal payday at least eight weeks earlier. The calculation uses earnings actually included for National Insurance purposes rather than a simple annual salary estimate. Salary sacrifice, pay corrections, an unusual payday, or a change in pay frequency can alter the input, so special cases should follow HMRC’s current manual calculation guidance.

Qualifying days are normally the days the employee is contracted to work. They determine how the weekly rate is spread across the absence; calendar days that are not qualifying days do not attract SSP. For example, a Monday-to-Friday employee who is sick from Monday through Sunday has five qualifying days that week, not seven. For a part-week payment, payroll divides the applicable weekly rate by the number of qualifying days in the week and multiplies the result by the qualifying sick days. HMRC’s calculator or tables should be used where the official rounding rules affect the result.

Illustration for the 2026/27 tax year: Assume average weekly earnings of £100 and a five-day qualifying week. Eighty per cent of earnings is £80, which is lower than the £123.25 statutory cap, so £80 is the weekly SSP rate. The daily rate is £80 ÷ 5 = £16. If the employee misses three full qualifying days, the illustrative payment is £16 × 3 = £48. This example assumes the ordinary calculation route and does not cover a special employment type or transition case.

Irregular schedules and recent starters

An employee does not need a Monday-to-Friday schedule to receive SSP. Qualifying days should normally match the days they are contracted to work, or another working pattern agreed between the employer and employee. If the parties cannot agree a pattern, the official fallback rules determine which days qualify. For a variable schedule, payroll should record the basis it used so the day count and resulting payment can be reproduced; that record is a practical audit step rather than a separate statutory evidence requirement.

The same calendar absence can therefore produce different day counts. Assume one employee has a fixed Monday-to-Friday qualifying pattern and another has an agreed variable pattern of Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday for the relevant week. If both are too ill to work from Monday through Sunday, the first employee has five qualifying sick days and the second has three. Their weekly SSP rates may also differ, but neither employee is paid simply for all seven calendar days.

A recent starter can qualify even without eight weeks of pay history. Where some earnings have already been paid but the normal eight-week period is unavailable, the calculation uses all earnings paid under the contract before the sickness. If the employee becomes sick before receiving any earnings, payroll uses contractual earnings under the applicable branch. The employer should follow HMRC’s new-employee calculation method rather than assume eight weeks of pay or reject the claim because the employee has only recently started.

Linked absences and the 28-week limit

Separate periods of incapacity for work are linked when the gap between them is 56 days or less. For a linked series, the SSP conditions and rate are established from the first period, and that rate normally carries into the later periods. Payroll therefore should not automatically select a new earnings period and recalculate average weekly earnings each time the employee returns after a short gap. HMRC explains the current treatment in its manual calculation guidance.

This 56-day linking gap serves a different purpose from the usual earnings reference period of at least eight weeks. The linking rule decides whether absences belong to the same SSP series; the earnings period identifies the pay used to calculate the rate. Similar time spans do not make the tests interchangeable.

Linked periods also draw on the same maximum SSP entitlement of 28 weeks. For example, if an employee returns to work and becomes incapable again after a 40-day gap, payroll treats the later period as linked, retains the applicable rate from the first period, and includes the SSP entitlement already used when tracking the maximum. If a continuous series of linked periods lasts for more than three years, the employee is no longer eligible for SSP under that series. The three-year rule does not combine every unrelated illness occurring within three calendar years; the periods must form a continuous linked series.

Absences that began before 6 April 2026 need a separate check. Some employees have transitional protection or a special calculation because their sickness crossed the reform date. Payroll should use the official transition guidance for those cases rather than applying the new day-one and lower-of rules across the whole absence.

What must the employee and employer do?

The SSP process starts when the employee reports the sickness absence. The employer then checks any required evidence, applies the eligibility and calculation rules, pays the correct amount through payroll, and keeps enough information to explain or correct the decision. If the parties disagree, the reason and calculation provide the starting point for resolving the dispute.

Report the absence and provide evidence

Notification and medical evidence are separate steps. The employee should report the sickness by the deadline in the employer’s policy. If the employer has not set a deadline, the fallback is within seven days. The employer cannot insist that the employee report in person or use a special form. Late notice may affect SSP for the late days unless the employee had a good reason; it does not automatically remove the whole entitlement. HMRC’s notice and fit-note guidance sets out these rules.

For the first seven calendar days of an absence, the employee can self-certify. A fit note may be required only when the absence lasts for more than seven consecutive days. The employer and employee can also agree to use alternative evidence listed in the official guidance. A late fit note is not, by itself, a lawful reason to withhold SSP.

A fit note records a healthcare professional’s assessment of the employee’s fitness for work and can support the evidence of incapacity. It does not determine whether the employee meets every SSP condition or calculate the payment. The employer still has to identify the qualifying days, apply the correct earnings and rate rules, and decide the SSP amount through payroll.

Process SSP through payroll and keep records

Payroll should be able to reproduce an SSP decision from its underlying facts rather than treat the final payslip amount as the calculation. A practical sequence is to:

1. identify the first complete sickness day, the employee’s normal work pattern, and the qualifying days covered by the absence;
2. select the applicable earnings period and calculate average weekly earnings from the relevant National Insurance earnings;
3. use the lower of 80% of average weekly earnings and the dated statutory cap, then allocate that weekly rate across the qualifying sick days;
4. pay the result through normal payroll on the normal payday, with tax and National Insurance deducted; and
5. retain the dates, work-pattern basis, earnings inputs, calculation, eligibility decision, and payments needed to explain the result.

HMRC’s current SSP calculation guidance covers the calculation steps and special cases. If the employer also operates a company sick-pay scheme, its internal approval process can govern the contractual enhancement, but the employer must still apply the statutory SSP eligibility and calculation rules.

Employers can choose the format of their SSP records, and HMRC may ask to see sickness records during a dispute. The items above form a useful audit trail rather than a prescribed universal checklist. They let payroll show whether a difference arose from the reported dates, qualifying-day pattern, earnings period, weekly rate, daily allocation, or payment entry.

Caption: UK process under the rules effective from 6 April 2026. The £123.25 weekly cap applies only to the 2026/27 tax year; official tables or the calculator should be used for rounding and special cases. HMRC, Work out your employee's Statutory Sick Pay manually · HMRC, Statutory Sick Pay employer guide: Entitlement · GOV.UK, Statutory Sick Pay: how to claim · HMRC, Statutory Payment Dispute Team

Resolve a refusal, wrong amount, or end of SSP

When SSP is refused or the amount looks wrong, the employee and employer should first compare the decision with the current eligibility rules and the payroll inputs: sickness dates, qualifying days, earnings period, weekly rate, and payments already made. The employee should ask the employer for the reason, and the employer should correct any status, day-count, earnings, or payroll error it finds. If the statutory issue remains unresolved, the employee can contact HMRC’s Statutory Payment Dispute Team.

The employer must provide form SSP1 when the employee does not qualify or when SSP is ending, but the deadline depends on the situation. For non-qualification, SSP1 is due within seven days of the first sickness day. If SSP ends unexpectedly while the employee is still sick, it is due within seven days after the payment ends. If SSP is expected to run out before the sickness does, the employer must provide the form by the beginning of week 23. The current SSP1 guidance should be used for the applicable branch. SSP1 can support the next step after SSP, but it does not establish eligibility for another benefit.

HMRC’s dispute route concerns the statutory payment. A disagreement about an additional contractual or discretionary sick-pay amount depends on the contract or company policy and follows the relevant employment process. Wider employment claims and possible benefits after SSP ends also require their own current eligibility and procedural checks.

Sickness and annual leave need a separate decision when they overlap. An employee who is already off sick can request holiday; if the employer agrees, sick leave pauses for that period and holiday pay applies. An employee who becomes sick during booked holiday can ask for the affected time to be treated as sickness, with SSP applying only if the statutory conditions are met. The parties should agree and record how the period is classified and apply the matching payment. The overlap does not automatically create full holiday pay and SSP for the same time; Acas explains both routes.

How do sick-pay systems differ in the United States and Germany?

Sick-pay systems in the United States and Germany use different coverage tests, payers, and processes. The worker’s location, coverage, employment terms, and local law determine which rules apply; the UK SSP test does not create an equivalent entitlement in another country or decide an individual case there.

United States: paid sick leave varies by jurisdiction

US federal law has no general requirement for employers to provide paid sick leave. The federal sick-leave guidance distinguishes paid sick time from the Family and Medical Leave Act, which can provide eligible employees with job-protected unpaid leave for qualifying medical and family reasons. An employer therefore cannot replace the US analysis with the UK SSP rate, qualifying-day test, or 28-week limit.

A narrower federal rule applies to employees working on or in connection with certain covered federal contracts. Executive Order 13706 can require paid sick leave for those covered employees, but it does not cover every federal contractor or every person employed by one. More protective federal, state, local, or collectively bargained rights can still apply, so the contract and employee coverage must be checked against the Department of Labor’s federal-contractor guidance.

State and local rules can add a separate paid-sick-leave obligation. California illustrates the questions an employer needs to ask: where the employee works, whether the employee and employer are covered, whether time accrues or is provided up front, what uses are permitted, what notice is required, how pay is calculated, and which records must be kept. The answers come from the applicable state and local rules; California’s official paid-sick-leave guidance also warns that local ordinances may provide more generous rights. Its mechanics should not be generalized to another state.

Paid sick time, FMLA leave, paid family and medical leave, and general PTO are separate categories even when an absence could touch more than one of them. Payroll and HR should identify each applicable layer, decide whether it provides pay, job-protected time, or an employer-policy balance, and coordinate any overlap under the governing rules. Calling all of these benefits “SSP” would hide the coverage and payment decisions the US employer still has to make.

Germany: employer pay followed by health-insurance benefit

Germany uses a different statutory sequence from UK SSP. Under section 3 of the Continued Remuneration Act, a qualifying employee who is unable to work because of sickness without fault can receive continued remuneration from the employer for up to six weeks. The claim normally begins after four uninterrupted weeks of employment. Repeated incapacity caused by the same illness has additional rules, so the six-week period should not be restarted automatically each time the employee returns.

When the employer-remuneration stage ends, the next step is an eligibility check rather than an automatic transfer of payment. Some members of statutory health insurance may qualify for Krankengeld under section 44 of Social Code Book V, while exclusions apply and private insurance follows its own terms. For the same illness, section 48 provides a maximum of 78 weeks within three years, subject to the statutory rules. That limit does not establish that every employee receives the benefit or that it starts on one universal date.

Caption: Germany only. A qualifying employee may receive continued remuneration from the employer for up to six weeks. After that stage, some statutory health-insurance members may qualify for Krankengeld; the handoff is not automatic for every worker. German Continued Remuneration Act, section 3 · German Social Code Book V, section 44 · German Social Code Book V, section 48

Notification and medical confirmation are separate duties in the German process. The employee must tell the employer immediately about the incapacity and its expected duration. The medical-confirmation rules then determine when incapacity must be established and how the information reaches the employer. Section 5 of the Continued Remuneration Act includes electronic procedures for many people with statutory health insurance, permits an employer to require earlier confirmation, and contains exceptions, so one paper-certificate rule should not be applied to every worker.

For a German absence, the practical checks are the employee’s service period, the cause and history of the incapacity, the notice and medical-confirmation steps, the duration of employer remuneration, and the person’s health-insurance coverage. These facts determine whether the employer remains the payer or whether a separate Krankengeld claim may arise. Neither stage is calculated under UK SSP rules.