Work out Statutory Sick Pay
Day-one SSP under the 2026 rules: the lower of £123.25 or 80% of average weekly earnings.
Statutory Sick Pay is worked out as the lower of 80% of an employee's average weekly earnings or the flat weekly rate of £123.25 for the 2026-27 tax year, then divided across the days the employee normally works [1][2]. Since 6 April 2026 it is paid from the first qualifying day of sickness, because the three waiting days were abolished [3].
The calculation has more moving parts than the headline rate suggests. An employer has to fix the average weekly earnings from a defined reference period, apply the lower-of test, identify which days count, and then convert the weekly figure into a daily amount with a specific rounding rule. Getting any one of those steps wrong changes what lands in the employee's pay.
This guide works through the calculation in order: how to find average weekly earnings, how the 80% test interacts with the flat rate, how to identify qualifying days, and how to turn all of that into the exact amount payable, with worked examples at the 2026-27 figures.
Key takeaways
- Statutory Sick Pay is the lower of 80% of average weekly earnings or £123.25 a week for 2026-27.
- Average weekly earnings are averaged over the eight weeks up to the last payday before the sickness began.
- Statutory Sick Pay is only paid on qualifying days, the days the employee normally works.
- The daily rate is the weekly rate divided by the number of qualifying days in the week, rounded up to the next penny.
- Since 6 April 2026, payment runs from day one and the Lower Earnings Limit no longer applies.
The formula in one line
The starting point is a single comparison. Statutory Sick Pay for a full week is the lower of 80% of the employee's average weekly earnings or the flat weekly rate, which is £123.25 for the 2026-27 tax year [1][2]. An employee whose 80% figure is above £123.25 receives the flat rate; an employee whose 80% figure is below it receives that lower amount instead [4].
That lower-of test is the change that reshaped the calculation on 6 April 2026. Before then, only employees earning above the Lower Earnings Limit qualified at all, and everyone eligible received the flat rate [5]. The removal of the Lower Earnings Limit means lower earners now qualify but on the 80% basis, so the employer has to run the comparison for every claim rather than defaulting to the flat rate [5][3].
Step 1: work out average weekly earnings
Average weekly earnings sit at the centre of the calculation, because the 80% test runs against them. The figure is not the employee's current salary but an average taken from a defined reference window before the sickness started [6].
The eight-week relevant period
The relevant period is the eight weeks up to and including the last normal payday before the first day of sickness [6]. To set it, an employer finds the last payday before the sickness began, which is the end of the period, then counts back at least eight weeks to the payday nearest that point and moves forward one day for the start [1]. All earnings paid between those two dates are added together and divided by the number of weeks in the period to give the average [6].
For monthly-paid staff the same principle applies, but the earnings are averaged across the whole number of weeks the relevant period covers, which produces a weekly figure from monthly pay [1]. The SSP qualifying days guide covers how this interacts with the working pattern in more detail.
What counts as earnings
Average weekly earnings must include everything on which Class 1 National Insurance contributions are due, or would be due if the earnings were high enough [6]. That brings in basic pay, overtime, commission and most bonuses paid in the relevant period, so a claim that falls just after a bonus payday can carry a higher average than the employee's usual salary would suggest [1].
Because the figure is built from actual payments in the window, the timing of pay matters as much as the amount. Irregular pay practices and mistimed payments have their own treatment, and where the pay pattern changed during the relevant period, HMRC guidance sets out how to adjust the average [7]. Most SME payroll software assembles the relevant period automatically from the payment history rather than leaving it to a manual count.
New employees with less than eight weeks of pay
An employee who has not yet been paid for a full eight weeks still qualifies for Statutory Sick Pay [8]. In that case the average is worked out from all the earnings paid under the contract up to the first day of sickness, over whatever shorter period exists [8]. Where no earnings have been paid at all before the sickness, the employer uses the amount the employee would reasonably have expected to earn, so a genuinely new starter is not excluded [6].
Step 2: apply the lower-of test
With average weekly earnings fixed, the next step is the comparison. The employer calculates 80% of the average weekly earnings and compares it with £123.25 [1][2]. The weekly Statutory Sick Pay is whichever is lower. The table below shows the outcome at a range of earnings.
| Average weekly earnings | 80% of AWE | Flat rate | Weekly SSP payable |
|---|---|---|---|
| £100.00 | £80.00 | £123.25 | £80.00 |
| £150.00 | £120.00 | £123.25 | £120.00 |
| £154.06 | £123.25 | £123.25 | £123.25 |
| £250.00 | £200.00 | £123.25 | £123.25 |
| £600.00 | £480.00 | £123.25 | £123.25 |
The crossover sits at average weekly earnings of about £154.06: below that, 80% is the lower figure and the employee receives it; at or above it, the flat rate of £123.25 caps the payment [1][4]. This is why the calculation can no longer assume the flat rate for every employee, a shift accountants running many schemes handle inside a multi-client payroll dashboard.
Step 3: identify the qualifying days
Statutory Sick Pay is only payable on qualifying days, which are the days the employee normally works under their contract [9]. Weekends and non-working days are not qualifying days for someone who does not work them, so a Monday-to-Friday employee has five qualifying days and a two-day-a-week employee has two [9].
At least one qualifying day must fall in each week, and the days must be agreed as a fair reflection of the working pattern [9]. Qualifying days also determine how a period of incapacity for work is paid: the four-day threshold that forms a period of incapacity for work counts all consecutive days including non-working days, but payment only attaches to qualifying days within it [10][11].
Step 4: work out the daily rate and the amount payable
Statutory Sick Pay is usually paid for part-weeks, so the weekly figure has to be converted into a daily rate. The rule is to divide the weekly rate by the number of qualifying days in that week, then multiply by the number of qualifying days the employee is actually sick [1]. Where the result includes a fraction of a penny, it is rounded up to the next whole penny [12].
The table below shows the daily rate at the 2026-27 flat rate of £123.25 for common working patterns, rounded up to the penny.
| Qualifying days per week | Daily rate (£123.25 flat rate) |
|---|---|
| 7 | £17.61 |
| 6 | £20.55 |
| 5 | £24.65 |
| 4 | £30.82 |
| 3 | £41.09 |
| 2 | £61.63 |
| 1 | £123.25 |
Using the five-day figure, an employee sick for three qualifying days receives £24.65 multiplied by three, which is £73.95 for that week [1]. An employee on the 80% basis rather than the flat rate has the same method applied to their lower weekly figure, so the daily rate is proportionally smaller [4].
A worked example from start to finish
Consider a full-time employee who works Monday to Friday, was last paid on a regular payday before falling sick, and has average weekly earnings of £480 over the relevant period [6]. Step one gives average weekly earnings of £480. Step two takes 80% of £480, which is £384, and compares it with £123.25; the flat rate is lower, so the weekly Statutory Sick Pay is £123.25 [1].
Step three identifies five qualifying days a week. Step four divides £123.25 by five to give a daily rate of £24.65 [1]. If the employee is off for a full working week, they receive five days at £24.65, which is £123.25; if they are off for two qualifying days, they receive £49.30 [12]. Because payment now runs from day one, every qualifying day of the absence is paid, not just those from the fourth day onward [3].
Special cases that change the calculation
Two situations alter the arithmetic and catch payroll teams out. The first is linked periods of sickness. Where two periods of incapacity for work are separated by 56 days or fewer, they link, and the average weekly earnings from the first period apply throughout, so a pay rise between the two does not lift the Statutory Sick Pay rate [10]. The calculation for the later absence therefore reuses the earlier average rather than a fresh one [6].
The second is variable or irregular pay. Where earnings swing across the relevant period, or the pay pattern changed within it, the average must reflect the actual payments made rather than a notional salary, and HMRC guidance sets out the adjustments [7]. For zero-hours and variable-hours staff, who came fully into scope when the Lower Earnings Limit was removed, this is the norm rather than the exception, and it is the kind of edge case an HMRC-recognised payroll API is built to compute consistently [14].
Common mistakes when calculating Statutory Sick Pay
Most calculation errors trace back to the same handful of points rather than the rate itself. The first is using current salary instead of the average weekly earnings from the relevant period, which produces the wrong figure whenever pay has changed or a bonus fell inside the window [6]. The second is defaulting to the flat rate of £123.25 for a low earner who should receive 80% of their average weekly earnings, an error that became far more common once the Lower Earnings Limit was removed [5].
A third mistake is dividing the weekly rate by seven for every employee rather than by their actual qualifying days, which understates the daily rate for anyone who does not work a seven-day week [9]. A fourth is rounding the daily rate down; the rule is to round up to the next whole penny, so rounding the wrong way short-changes the employee [12]. Employers who issue occasional payslips can avoid these slips with a compliant instant payslip that applies the current rate and rounding automatically.
The safest check is to reconcile the calculation against the official figures each tax year, because the flat rate changes every April and a stale rate carries the error into every claim [2]. The breakdown of the current figure is set out in the guide to the SSP rate for 2026-27.
Calculate an employee's Statutory Sick Pay
Rather than run the relevant period and lower-of test by hand, an employer can use the Moonworkers SSP calculator, which applies the 2026-27 rate, the 80% comparison, the qualifying-days logic and the day-one rule to any absence.
Count every calendar day of sickness, including weekends and days off. If the employee is still off, enter today as the last day for the amount due so far.
Statutory Sick Pay due
£0.00
Three quick steps: the absence dates, the working pattern, then the last few payslips. The calculation updates here.
Sick pay handled automatically, from day one
Moonworkers applies the 2026 SSP rules on every payrun: average weekly earnings, the 80% taper, linked absences and the 28-week cap, all itemised on HMRC-compliant payslips.
Conclusion
Calculating Statutory Sick Pay is a four-step sequence: fix the average weekly earnings, apply the lower-of test against the flat rate, identify the qualifying days, and convert the weekly figure into a rounded daily amount. The 6 April 2026 reforms added the 80% comparison and moved payment to day one, so the flat rate can no longer be assumed and every claim needs the full calculation.
For most employers the arithmetic is straightforward once the relevant period is set correctly, and it is the relevant period, not the rate, that causes most errors. As more lower-paid and irregular-hours workers come into scope, the direction of travel is towards payroll that assembles the relevant period and runs the lower-of test automatically, leaving the employer to check the result rather than build it.
Frequently asked questions
How much is Statutory Sick Pay per day in 2026-27?
The daily amount depends on how many days the employee normally works, because the weekly rate is divided by the qualifying days in the week [1]. At the 2026-27 flat rate of £123.25, a five-day-a-week employee receives £24.65 a day, while a three-day-a-week employee receives £41.09 a day, each rounded up to the penny [12].
What are average weekly earnings for Statutory Sick Pay?
Average weekly earnings are the average of all earnings on which Class 1 National Insurance is due, taken over the eight weeks up to the last normal payday before the sickness began [6]. The total paid in that relevant period is divided by the number of weeks it covers to give the weekly average used in the 80% test [1].
Is Statutory Sick Pay always £123.25 a week?
No. Since 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay is the lower of 80% of average weekly earnings or £123.25, so employees earning below roughly £154 a week receive the 80% figure instead of the flat rate [1]. Higher earners are capped at the flat rate of £123.25 for the 2026-27 tax year [2].
How do you calculate Statutory Sick Pay for a part-time worker?
The method is the same, but it runs against the part-time worker's own qualifying days and average weekly earnings [9]. The weekly rate is divided by the number of days they normally work, so a two-day-a-week employee on the flat rate has a daily rate of £61.63, and the 80% test may reduce the weekly figure if their earnings are low [1].
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Documentary photograph, a payroll administrator at a tidy desk working through a sick pay calculation with a printed timesheet, a calculator and an open laptop showing a spreadsheet, a mug of tea to one side, soft natural daylight from a window on a weekday morning, palette of warm cream, oak, muted sage green and brushed steel, the timesheet and calculator anchoring the lower-left two-thirds of the frame, shot on a Canon R6 at 50mm f/2.8, photojournalism, subtle film grain, no AI artefacts, no warped text, landscape orientation 16:9.
