Eligibility for SSP 




To claim SSP, an employee must be ill for at least four days in a row, including weekends and bank holidays. SSP is only paid for the days the employee normally works, called “qualifying days”. SSP is not paid for the first three days of sickness (including non-working days) known as “waiting days”. For example, an employee who works Monday to Friday and falls ill on a Saturday cannot claim SSP until the following Tuesday, assuming the illness lasts that long. If the employee is ill again within eight weeks and each period of illness lasts at least four days, the two periods are linked and the employee does not have to serve the waiting days again.




To claim SSP, the employee must notify the employer about their sickness absence. Although an employer can have its own notification rules for payment of occupational sick pay (to the extent that it exceeds SSP), when it comes to SSP the position is different. An employee claiming SSP cannot be required to notify the employer in person, and does not have to provide a doctor’s certificate (known as a Statement of Fitness for Work or “Fit Note”) for the first seven days of absence. 




Unpaid SSP can be claimed as an unlawful deduction from wages in the employment tribunal, or a wage claim in the civil courts (see Chapter 4). However, only HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) can resolve a dispute over entitlement to SSP.