SSP The Rules Made Simple

Here’s what you need to know about paying Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).

To be eligible the employee must:

• have started work. There is no minimum requirement period -it doesn’t matter how long the employee has worked for the employer.

• notify the employer within 7 days from the 1st day of sickness (or whatever is specified on the company sick pay policy) that they will be out of work due to sickness.

• be sick for at least 4 days in a row, known as the Period in Waiting (PIW). All days count towards a PIW including weekends and non-working days. PIW’s can be linked if there are 2 periods of sickness of 4 or more days in no more than 56 days or 8 weeks.

• earn enough money to qualify. They must have earnings at or above the NIC Lower Earnings Limit (LEL), currently £112 per week. If the earnings vary the employer would need to work out the Average Weekly Earnings , this is done over the “Relevant Period” of 8 weeks prior to the first day of sickness.

SSP will be paid for each qualifying day that the employee is out of work sick. Qualifying Days are the employee’s normal working days. The first 3 qualifying days of sickness will not be paid, these are called the Waiting Days. If PIW is linked, only period of Waiting Days needs to be served – if 2 waiting days are in the first PIW then in the second linked PIW only 1 waiting day needs to be accounted for. The daily rate of SSP is the weekly rate divided by the number of qualifying days; the weekly rate of SSP currently is £88.45.

If an employee is not entitled to SSP, the employer must give them a form SSP1 with the Part B filled in, indicating the reason for them not being entitled.

Records for SSP should be kept for a minimum of 3 years, as and per HMRC guidelines.

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