SSP Qualifying Days: How to Work Them Out
Statutory Sick Pay is only ever paid for qualifying days, the days an employee normally works, and the daily amount is the weekly rate of £123.25 for the 2026-27 tax year divided by the number of qualifying days in that week [1]. Get the qualifying days wrong and every SSP figure that follows is wrong too.
Qualifying days sit at the centre of every SSP calculation. They decide which days of an absence are paid, they set the daily rate, and there must be at least one in every week [3]. Since sick pay waiting days were abolished on 6 April 2026, SSP is paid from the first qualifying day of sickness, which makes identifying those days correctly more important than ever [9].
This guide explains what qualifying days are, how an employer and employee agree them, the default rules when they cannot agree, and how to turn qualifying days into the right SSP payment for full weeks and part weeks.
Key takeaways
- Qualifying days are the days an employee normally works, and SSP is only paid for those days.
- The daily SSP rate is the weekly rate divided by the number of qualifying days in that week.
- There must be at least one qualifying day in every week of a sickness absence.
- If the employer and employee cannot agree the qualifying days, set rules decide them, including a Wednesday default.
- For an employee with the same qualifying days each week, full weeks off attract the full weekly rate of £123.25.
What qualifying days are
Qualifying days are the only days an employer can pay SSP for, and they are normally the days the employee is contracted to work [3]. An employee off sick on a day they would never have worked, such as a rest day, is not owed SSP for that day, because it is not a qualifying day, a point worth reading alongside the overview of what Statutory Sick Pay is [1].
The rule that at least one day in each week must be a qualifying day protects employees whose patterns are unusual [3]. A week here runs from Sunday to midnight on the following Saturday, the standard SSP week [1]. Tracking qualifying days against each absence is a core function of HMRC-recognised payroll software for SMEs, which holds each employee's pattern and applies it automatically.
How to agree qualifying days
An employer and employee should agree which days count as qualifying days, normally the contracted working days [2]. Where the working pattern is irregular, the employer can choose not to use the contracted days and instead agree a fixed set of qualifying days that applies every week [3].
If the two sides cannot agree, HMRC sets out a fixed order of default rules. The table below shows them.
| Situation | Qualifying day rule |
|---|---|
| The contract sets the days the employee must work | Those contracted days are the qualifying days |
| Both sides agree there are no working days in a week | Wednesday is the qualifying day for that week |
| The two sides cannot agree which days are working days | Every day is a qualifying day, except days both agree no employee would work |
These defaults come straight from HMRC's qualifying days guidance and apply in order [3]. The Wednesday rule exists so that an employee with no identifiable working days still has one qualifying day a week and is not shut out of SSP entirely [1]. For an employee on a multi-week rota, the simplest approach is to agree the same qualifying days every week, provided there is always at least one [3].
How to calculate the daily SSP rate
The daily rate is the weekly SSP rate divided by the number of qualifying days in that week [1]. To find the amount due, multiply that daily rate by the number of qualifying days the employee is actually sick [2]. Where the result includes a fraction of a penny, it is rounded up to the next whole penny [1].
The table below shows the daily rate for each possible number of qualifying days in a week, based on the £123.25 weekly rate for the 2026-27 tax year [11].
| Qualifying days in the week | Daily SSP rate |
|---|---|
| 7 | £17.61 |
| 6 | £20.55 |
| 5 | £24.65 |
| 4 | £30.82 |
| 3 | £41.09 |
| 2 | £61.63 |
| 1 | £123.25 |
A worked example makes the method concrete. An employee who works five qualifying days a week has a daily rate of £123.25 divided by five, which is £24.65 [1]. If that employee is sick for three qualifying days, the SSP due is £24.65 multiplied by three, which is £73.95 [2]. SSP is paid through payroll on the normal payday, with income tax and National Insurance deducted in the usual way [7].
Full weeks versus part weeks
When an employee works the same qualifying days each week and is off for a complete week, the employer simply pays the full weekly rate of £123.25 for that week [1]. The daily-rate method is only needed for part weeks, where the absence covers some but not all of the qualifying days in the week [2].
A full week for SSP always begins on a Sunday and ends at midnight the following Saturday, regardless of when the employee's own pay week runs [1]. Sole traders and occasional employers producing a single document can capture the correct SSP figure on an instant payslip without running a full payroll cycle [7].
Variable hours, rotas and zero-hours workers
Workers on casual, short-term or zero-hours contracts qualify for SSP in the same way as any other employee, provided they meet the conditions and have done some work under the contract [6]. The challenge with these workers is not eligibility but identifying qualifying days, because there may be no fixed pattern to point to [5].
The practical answer is agreement. Employer and employee can settle on a set of qualifying days that applies each week, which gives a stable basis for the daily-rate calculation even when actual shifts vary [3]. Where no agreement is reached, the default rules apply, including the Wednesday rule for weeks with no agreed working days [1]. Embedding this logic in an HMRC-recognised payroll API lets a platform calculate SSP for irregular workers without manual intervention on every absence.
Conclusion
Qualifying days are the hinge on which every SSP calculation turns. They determine which days are paid, they set the daily rate through a single division, and the requirement for at least one a week means no employee is left without a basis for payment. Agreeing them clearly at the start of employment removes almost all of the difficulty that arises later.
With waiting days gone and the Lower Earnings Limit removed, more absences now generate SSP, and more of them involve part-time and variable-hours staff whose qualifying days take a moment's thought. The employer that records each worker's qualifying days accurately turns what looks like a fiddly calculation into a routine one, paid correctly from the first qualifying day every time.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a qualifying day for SSP?
A qualifying day is a day the employee normally works, and it is the only kind of day SSP can be paid for [3]. Qualifying days are usually the contracted working days, though an employer and employee can agree a different fixed set where the pattern is irregular [2]. There must be at least one qualifying day in every week.
How do I work out the daily SSP rate?
Divide the weekly SSP rate of £123.25 by the number of qualifying days in that week, then multiply by the number of qualifying days the employee is sick [1]. For an employee with five qualifying days, the daily rate is £24.65, so three days of sickness gives £73.95 [2]. Any fraction of a penny is rounded up.
What happens if the employer and employee cannot agree the qualifying days?
HMRC sets fixed default rules. The contracted working days are used first. If both sides agree there are no working days in a week, Wednesday becomes the qualifying day. If they cannot agree which days are working days, every day counts except those both agree no employee would work [3].
Do zero-hours and part-time workers get SSP?
Yes. Workers on casual, short-term, zero-hours or part-time contracts qualify for SSP if they meet the standard conditions and have done some work under the contract [6]. The qualifying days are agreed between employer and employee, and the daily rate is then worked out in the usual way [5].
