7. Sick pay and sickness absence

Statutory sick pay

An employer must provide employees with details of their sick pay entitlement as part of the written statement of employment particulars within two months of the employment start date (see Chapter 3: The employment contract). Sick pay rules do not have to be included in the written employment contract. Instead, they can be recorded in a separate document given to the employee.

Many employers provide an occupational sick pay scheme that is more generous than the statutory sick pay (SSP) scheme. Employees who are not entitled to occupational sick pay but who meet the qualifying criteria for SSP are entitled to SSP of £88.45 per week (from 6 April 2015) for a maximum of 28 weeks. To receive SSP, an employee must earn an average of at least £112 a week (2015-16). SSP is paid by the employer in the same way as wages.

The SSP rules changed in April 2014 so that employers are no longer able to reclaim from HMRC the SSP they pay out. The government says that the money saved will be used to fund the cost of its new Fit for Work Service (see page 207).

Agency workers who meet the qualifying conditions for SSP (see below) are entitled to SSP from the first day of their contract. Whichever party is responsible for deducting national insurance from their earnings is also responsible for paying their SSP.

Workers or employees who are not entitled to SSP may qualify for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Disability Living Allowance (DLA). DLA is being gradually phased out and replaced by Personal Independence Payments (PIP) in a rolling programme that began in April 2013. For more information about available state benefits, see the LRD booklet State Benefits and Tax Credits — a trade union guide to in-work benefits, 2015 (www.lrdpublications.org.uk/publications.php?pub=BK&iss=1766).

Pregnant women can claim SSP unless they are absent for a pregnancy-related reason from four weeks before the baby’s expected week of birth, in which case they should start receiving Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) or Maternity Allowance (MA) (see Chapter 8). Women cannot claim SSP and SMP at the same time.