SSP Calculator: How to Work Out Sick Pay
An SSP calculator works out Statutory Sick Pay at £123.25 a week, or 80% of average weekly earnings if that is lower, for the 2026-27 tax year [4]. Since 6 April 2026 the payment runs from the first qualifying day of sickness, so the calculation now applies to short absences that used to fall inside the unpaid waiting period [9].
The arithmetic looks simple, but two inputs decide the result: the employee's average weekly earnings and the number of days they normally work. Get either wrong and the SSP figure is wrong. This guide explains what an SSP calculator does, walks through the two-step calculation with worked examples, and sets out the situations where the official gov.uk tool cannot be used.
Key takeaways
- Statutory Sick Pay is the lower of £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings.
- The calculation has two steps: find the weekly rate, then divide by qualifying days to get the daily rate.
- Average weekly earnings are based on the eight weeks before the first day of sickness.
- The gov.uk calculator cannot handle more than one linked period of incapacity, which requires a manual calculation.
- Payroll software performs the whole calculation automatically and feeds the figure into the payslip and the Full Payment Submission.
What an SSP calculator does
An SSP calculator turns three pieces of information, the dates of sickness, the employee's earnings and their working pattern, into the amount of Statutory Sick Pay due [1]. The official gov.uk tool asks for the sickness dates and the employee's pay, then returns the SSP figure for the absence [1].
The output is a verification figure rather than a payroll instruction. The gov.uk calculator does not push the result into payroll software, so an employer still has to record the payment in their own system [2]. For that reason most employers let their UK payroll software perform the calculation directly and use the gov.uk tool only as a cross-check [8].
The two-step calculation
Every SSP calculation follows the same two steps: establish the correct weekly rate, then convert it to a daily figure for the qualifying days the employee was actually sick [2].
Step one, average weekly earnings
The weekly rate is the lower of £123.25 or 80% of average weekly earnings [3]. Average weekly earnings are worked out across the eight-week relevant period ending with the last normal payday before the sickness began, including everything on which Class 1 National Insurance is due [2].
For a salaried employee the average is steady, so 80% almost always exceeds the flat rate and £123.25 applies [4]. For a low-paid or part-time worker, 80% can fall below £123.25, in which case the lower 80% figure is the weekly rate, a direct result of the earnings floor being removed on 6 April 2026 [9].
Step two, the daily rate
SSP is paid for qualifying days, the days the employee is normally contracted to work [5]. The daily rate is the weekly rate divided by the number of qualifying days in the week, and the employer multiplies that daily rate by the number of qualifying days the employee was sick [2].
| Qualifying days per week | Daily rate at £123.25 |
|---|---|
| 5 | £24.65 |
| 6 | £20.55 |
| 7 | £17.61 |
The weekly total can never exceed the applicable weekly rate, and any fraction of a penny is rounded up to the next whole penny [2]. A worker with fewer qualifying days has a higher daily rate, because the same weekly figure is spread across fewer days [5].
Two worked examples
The two scenarios below show the calculation for a standard-rate case and a low-earner case, both for an employee who works five qualifying days a week and is sick for three of them.
| Step | Standard rate worker | Lower-paid worker |
|---|---|---|
| Average weekly earnings | £400 | £145 |
| 80% of earnings | £320 | £116 |
| Weekly rate applied (lower of 80% or £123.25) | £123.25 | £116 |
| Daily rate (weekly ÷ 5) | £24.65 | £23.20 |
| Three qualifying days sick | £73.95 | £69.60 |
In the first case, 80% of earnings (£320) is well above the flat rate, so the £123.25 cap applies and three days pay £73.95 [3]. In the second case, 80% of £145 is £116, below the flat rate, so £116 becomes the weekly rate, giving a daily rate of £23.20 and £69.60 for three days [2]. The two examples produce different daily figures from the same working pattern purely because of earnings, which is why the average weekly earnings step cannot be skipped [4].
When the gov.uk calculator cannot be used
The gov.uk calculator handles most straightforward absences, but it cannot cope with more than one period of incapacity for work, which forces a manual calculation [1]. Two spells of sickness link into one period when the gap between them is eight weeks or less, and a linked period carries the average weekly earnings forward from the first spell [6].
Linked periods, irregular earnings and agency arrangements are exactly where manual calculation introduces error [5]. Accountants running sick pay across many client schemes typically rely on a multi-client payroll platform to apply the linking rule consistently, while software platforms embedding UK payroll into their own products use an HMRC-recognised payroll API so the calculation runs the same way every time. A sole trader paying a single employee can still produce a compliant record through an instant payslip generator. For the background to the 6 April 2026 changes, the SSP reform explained article covers the day-one and earnings-floor reforms.
Conclusion
An SSP calculator is only as good as the two inputs behind it: average weekly earnings and qualifying days. Once those are right, the weekly rate and the daily figure follow mechanically, capped at £123.25 and rounded up to the nearest penny. The worked examples show why earnings matter as much as the calendar, because the same three days of absence can pay different amounts depending on what the employee earns.
The gov.uk tool covers the simple cases and remains a useful cross-check, but it stops at the first linked period of incapacity, which is where real workforces tend to land. For employers managing recurring or irregular absence, the cleaner route is small business payroll that calculates SSP automatically and carries it straight into the payslip and the Real Time Information return.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate statutory sick pay for an employee?
Work out the weekly rate first, which is the lower of £123.25 or 80% of average weekly earnings over the eight weeks before the sickness began [3]. Then divide that weekly rate by the number of qualifying days the employee normally works to get the daily rate, and multiply by the number of qualifying days they were sick [2].
Can I use the gov.uk SSP calculator for every absence?
Not always. The gov.uk calculator works for most single absences, but it cannot be used where there has been more than one linked period of incapacity for work, which requires a manual calculation [1]. Periods of sickness link when the gap between them is eight weeks or less [6].
Why do two employees on the same shift get different SSP?
Because the weekly rate depends on earnings. An employee whose 80% of average weekly earnings exceeds £123.25 receives the flat rate, while a lower-paid colleague whose 80% falls below £123.25 receives the lower figure [4]. The earnings floor that used to exclude low earners was removed on 6 April 2026, so the 80% calculation now applies to them [9].
Does payroll software calculate SSP automatically?
Yes. HMRC-recognised payroll software works out the SSP rate, the daily figure and the qualifying days, then reports the payment through Real Time Information without manual entry [8]. This removes the rounding and linking errors that arise when SSP is calculated by hand for irregular absence [5].
