Sick pay in the UK: the complete employer guide
Statutory Sick Pay in the UK is worth £123.25 a week, or 80% of average weekly earnings where that figure is lower, and it is now payable from the first day of sickness rather than the fourth [1]. The removal of the three waiting days and the Lower Earnings Limit on 6 April 2026 brought an estimated 1.3 million low-paid workers into entitlement for the first time [2].
These are the largest structural changes to UK sick pay in a generation, and they land squarely on the employer. Every business that runs a payroll has to apply the new rules from day one of an absence, calculate the correct rate, and absorb the full cost, because SSP cannot be recovered from HMRC [3].
This guide sets out who qualifies, how the weekly and daily figures are worked out, how qualifying days and linked absences affect entitlement, and what an employer must do when sick pay runs out. It is written for the employer and the payroll administrator who need to get the calculation right on the next payrun.
Key takeaways
- Statutory Sick Pay is £123.25 per week for the 2026-27 tax year, or 80% of average weekly earnings if that is lower.
- SSP is payable from the first qualifying day of sickness. The three waiting days were abolished on 6 April 2026.
- The Lower Earnings Limit no longer gates entitlement, so every employee qualifies regardless of how much they earn.
- SSP runs for a maximum of 28 weeks in a single period or set of linked periods.
- Employers cannot reclaim SSP from HMRC. They carry 100% of the cost.
What Statutory Sick Pay is and what changed
Statutory Sick Pay is the legal minimum an employer must pay an eligible employee who is off work sick. It is a floor, not a ceiling: an employer can offer more generous contractual sick pay, but it cannot pay less than the statutory amount [3].
The Employment Rights Act 2025 reshaped that floor with two changes that took effect on 6 April 2026, set out in detail in this guide to the 2026 sick pay reform. The first removed the three waiting days, so SSP is now due from the first qualifying day of absence rather than the fourth [2]. The second removed the Lower Earnings Limit as an eligibility test, opening SSP to workers who previously earned too little to qualify [4].
Why the reform matters to employers
Before the reform, around a quarter of employees who were off sick received only SSP, and none of them was paid for the first three days [2]. Paying from day one changes the maths of short absences, which are the most common kind, and it changes how absence management policies need to be written [1].
The cost lands on the employer. Government estimates put the additional annual cost of the two changes at around £450 million across UK businesses, roughly £15 more per employee per year [2]. Because SSP is never recoverable, that cost is not offset against the PAYE bill the way family-related statutory pay can be [3]. Most modern UK payroll software now applies the day-one rule automatically, but employers running calculations by hand need to drop the old waiting-day logic entirely.
How much Statutory Sick Pay is paid
For the 2026-27 tax year, the standard weekly rate is £123.25 [1]. The figure an employee actually receives is the lower of that flat rate and 80% of their average weekly earnings, a change introduced so that the lowest earners receive a proportionate amount rather than nothing [5].
The table below shows how the weekly rate is reached and what determines the amount paid.
| Earnings level | Rate applied | Weekly SSP |
|---|---|---|
| Average weekly earnings at or above £154.06 | Flat rate | £123.25 |
| Average weekly earnings below £154.06 | 80% of AWE | Less than £123.25 |
| New starter with under 8 weeks of earnings | 80% of AWE, estimated | Variable |
The 80% formula means an employee earning £120 a week receives £96.00 in SSP, while an employee earning £400 a week receives the full £123.25 flat rate [1].
How average weekly earnings are calculated
Average weekly earnings for SSP are based on a relevant period, normally the eight weeks ending with the last normal payday before the first day of sickness [6]. The employer adds together all earnings paid in that period and divides by the number of weeks or months it covers to reach a weekly figure [7].
Employees with fewer than eight weeks of earnings still qualify, and the employer estimates average weekly earnings from the pay that has been received [8]. Because the 80% test depends on this figure, getting the relevant period right is now part of every SSP calculation, not just an edge case [6].
Daily SSP and qualifying days
SSP is a weekly entitlement, but absences rarely fall in neat weekly blocks, so the rate has to be broken down into a daily figure. The daily rate depends on the number of qualifying days the employee has in a week, which are normally the days the employee is contracted to work [9].
The daily amount is the weekly rate divided by the number of qualifying days in that week. The table below shows the daily figures for the most common working patterns.
| Qualifying days per week | Daily rate | 2 days paid | 3 days paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | £24.65 | £49.30 | £73.95 |
| 4 | £30.82 | £61.63 | £92.44 |
| 3 | £41.09 | £82.17 | £123.25 |
| 2 | £61.63 | £123.25 | n/a |
Why qualifying days matter more now
Under the old rules, the first three qualifying days were waiting days and went unpaid, so the daily rate only mattered from day four [5]. With waiting days gone, every qualifying day in an absence is potentially payable, which makes the daily calculation relevant from the very first day off [1].
This matters most for part-time and irregular workers, whose qualifying days may not line up with a standard five-day week [9]. Accountants managing this across many clients typically rely on a payroll bureau platform that derives qualifying days from each employee's contracted pattern rather than assuming a five-day week [7].
Who is eligible for sick pay
To qualify for SSP, an employee must be classed as an employee and have done some work under their contract, must be off sick for at least four consecutive days including non-working days, which forms a Period of Incapacity for Work, and must tell the employer within any deadline the employer has set [4]. The earnings threshold that used to sit alongside these conditions has been removed [2].
A four-day Period of Incapacity for Work is still the trigger, but once it is met, payment now starts from the first qualifying day rather than the fourth [5]. Agency workers, zero-hours workers and employees on short contracts can all qualify, since the test is about employment status and incapacity rather than earnings [4]. This widened entitlement matters most for small business payroll, where a single low-paid absence that paid nothing before is now payable in full.
Linked periods of sickness
Two periods of sickness link and count as one if the gap between them is eight weeks (56 days) or less [10]. In a linked period, entitlement is judged against the first period, and the SSP rate set at the start carries through, so a later pay rise does not increase the amount paid [10].
The linking rule also feeds the 28-week maximum, because linked periods are added together towards that cap [5]. Payroll teams that treat each absence as a fresh start risk overpaying, or missing the point at which entitlement runs out [7]. A software platform that needs UK sick pay logic without building it from scratch can use an HMRC-recognised payroll API to handle linking and the 28-week ceiling consistently.
When sick pay ends and what comes next
SSP runs for a maximum of 28 weeks in a single Period of Incapacity for Work or a set of linked periods [5]. Entitlement also ends if a continuous run of linked periods lasts more than three years, even where 28 weeks of payment has not been reached [10].
When SSP is coming to an end and the employee is still sick, the employer issues form SSP1 so the employee can claim support through the benefits system [11]. The employer must send SSP1 within seven days of SSP ending if it stops unexpectedly, or on or before the start of the 23rd week if it is expected to end before the sickness does [11].
Moving on to Employment and Support Allowance
Form SSP1 supports a claim for New Style Employment and Support Allowance, which the employee can apply for up to three months before SSP ends [12]. The benefit begins once SSP stops, because a person cannot receive New Style ESA at the same time as SSP from an employer [12].
Issuing SSP1 on time is the employer's legal duty, and a late form can delay the employee's benefit claim [11]. Software that holds the HMRC Recognised badge tracks the 28-week count and flags when SSP1 is due, which removes the manual diary task that is easy to forget across a large workforce [5].
Recovering the cost: why SSP is different
Most statutory payments can be partly recovered from HMRC through the Employer Payment Summary, but SSP is the exception [3]. Family-related statutory pay, such as maternity or paternity pay, can be reclaimed at 92%, rising to 109% under Small Employers' Relief, yet none of that mechanism applies to sick pay [13].
The contrast is set out below.
| Payment | Recovery from HMRC |
|---|---|
| Statutory Sick Pay | 0%, employer absorbs the full cost |
| Family-related statutory pay (standard) | 92% |
| Family-related statutory pay (Small Employers' Relief) | 109% |
Because SSP carries no recovery, the day-one reform raises a real, unrecoverable cost for employers with frequent short absences [3]. Sole traders and very small employers who run the occasional payslip feel this most acutely, and many use an instant payslip generator that applies the right SSP figure without a standing payroll subscription [1].
Conclusion
UK sick pay has shifted from a benefit that excluded the lowest earners and ignored the first three days of absence to one that pays everyone from day one. The mechanics that used to sit in the background, average weekly earnings, qualifying days and the eight-week linking rule, now drive the figure on the very first day an employee is off [6].
For employers, the practical task is to apply the rules cleanly on every payrun, issue SSP1 on time, and plan for a cost that cannot be recovered. The wider direction of travel points towards sick pay being treated as a genuine day-one right, sitting alongside the other reforms the Employment Rights Act 2025 brought in, so the absence policies and payroll systems built around the new rules are the ones that will hold up over the coming years.
Frequently asked questions
How many days must an employee be off before sick pay starts in the UK?
An employee must be off sick for at least four consecutive days, including non-working days, to form a Period of Incapacity for Work [4]. Once that condition is met, SSP is paid from the first qualifying day, because the three waiting days were abolished on 6 April 2026 [2].
Can an employer reclaim Statutory Sick Pay from HMRC?
No. Statutory Sick Pay is the one statutory payment that cannot be recovered from HMRC, so the employer bears the full cost [3]. This differs from family-related statutory payments, where employers can reclaim 92%, or 109% under Small Employers' Relief [13].
What happens when an employee reaches 28 weeks of sick pay?
SSP stops once an employee has received 28 weeks in a single period or set of linked periods [5]. The employer must issue form SSP1 so the employee can claim New Style Employment and Support Allowance, which can be applied for up to three months before SSP ends [12].
Do part-time workers get the full weekly rate of sick pay?
A part-time worker receives SSP based on their qualifying days, with a daily rate of the weekly figure divided by the number of qualifying days in the week [9]. They may receive less than £123.25 if the 80% of average weekly earnings figure is lower than the flat rate [1].
