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 them. 


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; or



• 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. Under the new Fit for Work scheme (see page 49) the tear-off section of a “return-to-work plan” can be used instead of a GP fit note to prove eligibility for SSP. 


If you break your employer’s rules on sick leave and sick pay, 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.