Statutory Sick Pay


If you are in paid work and become sick, you may qualify for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from your employer. Your employer may have opted out of SSP by providing an occupational scheme that is at least as good as SSP. It may have different rules, but they cannot be worse than those for SSP.


Who can get it?


To get Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), you must be an employee and unable to work because you are sick or disabled. You must earn at least £112.00 a week. If you don’t earn this amount, or if you’re self-employed, you cannot get SSP. You should claim Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) instead. If you were getting ESA within the last 12 weeks, you do not get SSP. Your employer should tell you if you are not entitled to SSP by giving you form SSP1, or their own version of it. You can then apply to reclaim ESA instead.


If you are off sick and you are not sure whether you can get SSP, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens’ Advice Bureau.


Part-time workers, workers on a fixed-term contract and agency workers all qualify for SSP.


To qualify for SSP you must be ill for a period of four or more calendar days in a row (including weekends and bank holidays).


Exceptions


Certain categories of people are excluded from SSP entitlement. If you are in any of these categories, your employer must supply you with form SSP1, giving details of your exclusion, within seven days of your illness. You will need this form SSP1 if you wish to claim ESA (see page 51). 


You won’t qualify if you:


• have received the maximum amount of SSP (28 weeks); or


• are getting Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay or Additional Statutory Paternity Pay.


In addition, if you have regular periods of sickness, they may count as “linked”. To be linked, the periods must:


• qualify for SSP by lasting four or more days each; 


• be eight weeks or less apart.


You are no longer eligible for SSP if you have a continuous series of linked periods that lasts more than three years.


Your entitlement to SSP covers any period of illness up to a maximum of 28 weeks. After this period you should be transferred to ESA if you are still off work through illness, as long as you meet the necessary contribution conditions for that benefit. If you do not meet the conditions, you may be able to claim Income Support (see page 31).


How much can you get?


SSP is a flat-rate payment with no additions for dependents. It is taxable and liable for National Insurance contributions where applicable. The current rate of SSP is £88.45 a week. SSP is paid even if you are hospitalised. If you have a sick pay scheme at your workplace, this may pay more than the SSP rate but you will not get SSP on top. The daily rate is the weekly rate divided by the number of qualifying days (see below) in that week.


If your SSP combined with any other income is less than the Income Support (IS) “applicable amount” (the minimum amount that the government thinks you need to live on, see pages 92-94), you may be able to claim IS as well.


Qualifying days


You can only claim SSP for days counted as “qualifying days”. These are usually the days you normally work. Other days may be set as qualifying days in agreement with your employer if you do not work a standard week.


When to claim


To claim SSP you must have been ill for at least four days in a row, including weekends and bank holidays. The days that count for this purpose do not all have to be qualifying days (see above). The first three qualifying days of any illness count as “waiting days”, so if you are ill for no more than four days, SSP is payable for the fourth qualifying day only.


If you have been sick for two spells or more, each lasting at least four days in a row, with eight weeks or less between them, this will be counted as one period of incapacity for work. As a result, you will not have to go through any waiting days for the second and subsequent periods of sickness.


However, if you have had a period of illness with a previous employer, this cannot be “linked” to a period of illness with your new employer. In fact, your new employer’s obligation to pay SSP may be reduced by the number of days’ SSP you have already received. 


Notification rules for SSP


Your employer may ask you to follow certain rules about telling them you are off sick. They still have to pay you SSP even if you don’t follow these rules. For example, they still have to pay you SSP even if you don’t:


• provide a medical certificate until your eighth day of illness;


• phone in by a certain time of day to tell them you are sick;


• phone in more than once a week when you are off sick;


• phone in yourself or ask someone else to do it on your behalf.


You are, however, required to provide a “fit note” from your GP after the first seven days of sickness, although under the new Fit for Work scheme (see page 49) a return-to-work plan provides evidence of sickness for pay purposes, replacing the need for a GP fit note. 


TUC guidance on the use of fit notes is available at: www.tuc.org.uk/extras/fitnote.pdf. Also, if you break your employer’s rules, you will be breaking the terms of your employment contract and eventually this could lead to you losing your job. Your employer must let you know what these rules are in advance. 


How is it paid?


Employers should pay SSP in the same way as they pay wages, and on the same day on which they would pay your wages, for the period you are off sick.


You can get SSP for up to 28 weeks. If you are too sick to work after 28 weeks, you should get form SSP1 from your employer to help support a claim for Employment and Support Allowance. More information can be found online at: www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay.


Other rules


If you are pregnant


The right to SSP technically ceases if you are on a pregnancy-related absence in the four weeks before the due date, however, in practice, an employer can choose to disregard odd days of pregnancy–related sickness absence. If you do not have a pregnancy-related illness, you can get SSP up to the day before SMP or MA is due to start.


Independent medical examination


If your employer does not believe that you are sick (even if you have evidence from your doctor) you may need to go for an independent medical examination (which can only take place with your permission) arranged through HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) before a decision is made. 


The HMRC Statutory Payments Disputes Team may be able to resolve the dispute informally by issuing an “informal opinion” based on the evidence given by you, your employer and the results of the medical examination. If it is not possible to resolve the dispute informally or by giving a written opinion, a Nominated Officer can give a formal decision.


How to appeal


If your employer decides you are not entitled to SSP and you do not agree with this, the employer must give you the reasons for this decision in writing. You can appeal against this to the HMRC within six months of the refusal to pay. You will need to state the period for which you are claiming SSP and your employer’s grounds for refusing to pay. Your local Jobcentre will have details on how to make an appeal. You can write directly to the HMRC to pursue your claim if your employer refuses to provide you with anything in writing.


A claim for unpaid sick pay (SSP or contractual) should be brought as a claim for unlawful deduction of wages in the employment tribunal or as a claim for breach of contract (failure to pay your wages) in the civil courts — usually the small claims court. However, only HMRC can resolve a dispute over whether you are entitled to SSP. 


You can find more information about bringing claims in the civil court on the Gov.uk website: www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview. There is a fee for this kind of claim.