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 now starts on the first qualifying day of sickness, not the fourth, for any absence beginning on or after 6 April 2026 [1]. The three unpaid waiting days that used to sit at the front of every claim were abolished by the Employment Rights Act 2025, so an employee can be paid SSP for a single day off work where before they would have received nothing [5].
That sounds like a clean answer, and for most absences it is. The complication is that the day SSP starts is not always the day the employee feels ill. It starts on the first qualifying day, the first day they were due to work, which can fall later than the calendar day the sickness began.
This article sets out exactly when SSP starts under the current rules, why the first qualifying day matters more than the first day of illness, how absences that straddled 6 April 2026 were treated, when a fresh absence starts a new claim, and when SSP stops altogether.
Key takeaways
- SSP starts on the first qualifying day of sickness for absences beginning on or after 6 April 2026, with no waiting days.
- The first qualifying day may be later than the first day of illness if the employee fell sick on a non-working day such as a weekend.
- A single qualifying day of sickness now establishes a period of incapacity for work, where four consecutive days were once required.
- A later absence within 8 weeks links to the earlier one and pays from its first qualifying day, without restarting the 28-week clock.
- SSP stops at 28 weeks, and an employee must return to work for more than 56 days to build a fresh entitlement.
The new starting point: the first qualifying day
The heart of the reform is timing. SSP used to begin on the fourth qualifying day of a period of incapacity for work; it now begins on the first [1]. Understanding why means separating two things that are easily confused: the day illness starts and the day payment starts.
Waiting days were abolished
Until 5 April 2026, the first three qualifying days of any absence were waiting days, and no SSP was paid for them [5]. Payment only reached the employee on the fourth qualifying day, which meant short absences of a day or two produced no SSP at all. The Employment Rights Act 2025 removed those waiting days, so SSP is payable from the first qualifying day of sickness for absences starting on or after 6 April 2026 [1]. The full scope of the reform, including the removal of the earnings floor, is set out in the Moonworkers guide to what changed in the SSP reform.
This is why short-term absence now carries a payroll cost it did not before. A one-day or two-day sickness that would once have fallen entirely within the unpaid waiting days is now paid in full from day one [6].
The first qualifying day is not always the first day of illness
SSP is only ever paid for qualifying days, the days an employee is normally contracted to work [2]. If an employee falls ill on a day they were not due to work, that day is not a qualifying day and SSP does not start until the next day they were scheduled to work [4].
An example makes the distinction clear. An employee who works Monday to Friday and falls ill on a Saturday has no qualifying day over the weekend, so SSP starts on the Monday, the first day they were due to work [4]. The illness started on Saturday, but the payment starts on Monday. For payroll, the rule to apply is always "first qualifying day", never "first calendar day of sickness" [2]. The mechanics of qualifying days and the rate are covered in the companion Moonworkers guide to how statutory sick pay works.
What counts as the start of a period of incapacity for work
Behind the first qualifying day sits the period of incapacity for work, or PIW, which is the spell of sickness SSP attaches to. The definition of when a PIW begins changed on 6 April 2026.
Under the old rules a PIW only existed once an employee had been sick for four or more consecutive days, counting weekends and non-working days [5]. Absences of three days or fewer never became a PIW, so they never attracted SSP. From 6 April 2026 that four-day threshold no longer gates payment: a PIW can begin from the first qualifying day, so even a single day of sickness can establish one and trigger SSP [5].
The practical effect is a large increase in the number of absences that count. A payroll team that previously ignored one and two-day absences must now assess every one of them, because each is potentially a paid PIW [6]. Most modern UK payroll software that holds the HMRC Recognised badge now opens a PIW automatically on the first qualifying day and reports the SSP through Real Time Information without manual intervention.
Transitional cases: absences spanning 6 April 2026
The switch-over created a set of one-off cases where a single absence sat partly under the old rules and partly under the new. HMRC and the DWP published specific guidance for them.
Where an employee was already off sick before 6 April 2026 and was still serving waiting days on that date, the waiting days stopped applying from 6 April, and SSP became payable from their first qualifying day on or after that date [3]. This applied however many waiting days the employee had already served. The important limit is that SSP could not be back-paid for waiting days that fell before 6 April 2026, so an employee mid-wait on that date started to receive SSP from 6 April but got nothing for the earlier waiting days [3].
The table sets out the two positions side by side.
| Absence | Start day of SSP |
|---|---|
| Begins on or after 6 April 2026 | First qualifying day of the absence |
| Begins before 6 April 2026, still in waiting days on that date | First qualifying day on or after 6 April 2026, no back pay for earlier waiting days |
Employees who earned below the old Lower Earnings Limit and were off sick before 6 April also became newly entitled from that date, with their average weekly earnings based on the earnings before their absence began [3]. These transitional rules are now largely spent, but they still matter for any long absence that began around that changeover.
When SSP starts again: linked periods
A second absence does not always start a fresh claim. The linking rule decides whether it joins the earlier one or begins anew, and that changes when SSP starts.
Two periods of incapacity for work link into a single continuous PIW where the gap between them is 8 weeks (56 days) or less [2]. When a later absence links back to an earlier one, no waiting days apply, so SSP starts from the very first qualifying day of the second absence, and the earlier period's average weekly earnings continue to apply [6]. The 28-week maximum covers the combined length of the linked periods rather than resetting [1].
Where the gap is more than 8 weeks, the second absence is a new, unlinked PIW. It starts its own claim, its own 28-week clock and its own average weekly earnings calculation [2]. The table shows the difference.
| Gap between absences | Treatment | When SSP starts | 28-week clock |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 weeks or less | Linked, one continuous PIW | First qualifying day of the second absence | Continues from the first PIW |
| More than 8 weeks | New, unlinked PIW | First qualifying day of the new absence | Restarts at zero |
Because the linking rule changes both the start point and the earnings used, accurate absence dates are essential. Accountants running payroll across many clients typically rely on a payroll bureau platform that tracks the 8-week window automatically rather than checking it by hand.
When SSP stops
The mirror image of when SSP starts is when it ends. There are three ways an entitlement runs out, and the employer has a duty at the end of the longest one.
The 28-week ceiling and the 3-year rule
SSP can be paid for a maximum of 28 weeks in a single PIW or a run of linked PIWs [1]. A second limit applies to a long series of linked absences: entitlement also ends where a continuous series of linked PIWs has run for more than 3 years, even if 28 weeks of SSP has not been paid [2]. When the 28-week entitlement is ending, the employer must issue form SSP1 on or before the beginning of the 23rd week of SSP, so the employee has time to claim Employment and Support Allowance before payment stops [7].
Regaining entitlement after returning to work
Once an employee has used their full 28 weeks, they cannot simply fall sick again and restart SSP. A fresh entitlement only becomes available after the employee has returned to work for more than 56 days, breaking the chain of linked periods [8]. Until that 56-day gap is cleared, any further absence still links back to the exhausted claim and attracts no SSP [2]. This is one of the least understood parts of the scheme, and getting it wrong risks either paying SSP that is not due or refusing SSP that is. A HMRC-recognised payroll API applies the 56-day reset automatically so the boundary is not missed.
When SSP does not start at all
Even under the widened rules, there are cases where SSP never begins, and an employer needs to recognise them so it neither underpays nor pays in error.
SSP does not start for someone who is not an employee. The self-employed have no employer to pay it and fall outside the scheme entirely, which is one of the clearest practical differences between employment and self-employment [1]. A genuinely self-employed contractor who cannot work through illness looks to Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit instead, not to SSP [6].
SSP also does not start where an employee has already exhausted a linked entitlement, as covered above, or where they are receiving certain other statutory payments. An employee within a maternity or adoption pay period, for example, cannot receive SSP at the same time, because the two statutory payments cover the same weeks [8]. Where an employee does not qualify at the outset, the employer must issue form SSP1 within 7 days of deciding not to pay, so the employee can pursue other support without delay [7].
Notification also affects when payment is actually processed. Although entitlement is measured from the first qualifying day, the employer needs to be told of the sickness within its notification deadline, or within 7 days where none is set, before it processes the SSP [2]. A business issuing an occasional payslip that includes SSP can produce it with an instant payslip generator once the qualifying days are confirmed.
A worked timeline
Bringing the timing rules together, consider an employee who works Monday to Friday and reports sick from Saturday 11 April. The table traces when SSP starts.
| Day | Qualifying day? | SSP paid? |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday 11 April | No, not a working day | No |
| Sunday 12 April | No, not a working day | No |
| Monday 13 April | Yes, first qualifying day | Yes, SSP starts |
| Tuesday 14 April onward | Yes | Yes, for each qualifying day off |
The illness began on the Saturday, but SSP started on the Monday, the first qualifying day, and continued for every qualifying day of the absence up to the 28-week ceiling [4]. Because SSP counts as earnings, each payment is taxed through payroll and shown on the payslip, a point covered in the Moonworkers article on whether sick pay is taxable.
Check the start date and amount quickly
An employer working out the first qualifying day and the amount due for an absence can confirm both with the Moonworkers SSP calculator, which applies the 2026-27 rate, the first-day rule and the qualifying-day pattern to any working week.
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
The short answer, that SSP starts on the first qualifying day, hides the real work: identifying which day that is. For an absence beginning on a working day it is the first day off. For one beginning on a rest day it is the next scheduled working day. For a second absence within 8 weeks it is the first qualifying day of that absence, linked back to the original claim and its earnings. The removal of waiting days on 6 April 2026 simplified the entry point but multiplied the number of absences a payroll team must assess, since even a single day now pays.
For an employer, the safest approach is a payroll system that opens the period of incapacity on the correct qualifying day, applies the linking rule, and stops at the 28-week ceiling without manual tracking. When every one-day absence is now a potential payment, the start date is not a detail; it is the calculation.
Frequently asked questions
Does statutory sick pay start on the first day off sick?
It starts on the first qualifying day, which is the first day the employee was due to work. If the employee fell ill on a working day, that is the first day off and SSP starts then. If they fell ill on a day they were not scheduled to work, such as a weekend, SSP starts on their next working day instead.
Are there still three waiting days before SSP begins?
No. The three unpaid waiting days were abolished for absences starting on or after 6 April 2026 under the Employment Rights Act 2025. SSP is now payable from the first qualifying day, so even a single day of sickness can attract payment where before the first three qualifying days were unpaid.
If an employee is sick again a few weeks after recovering, does SSP start over?
It depends on the gap. If the second absence begins within 8 weeks of the first, the two link and SSP starts from the first qualifying day of the second absence, using the original earnings and the same 28-week limit. If the gap is more than 8 weeks, the second absence is a new claim with a fresh 28-week entitlement.
When does statutory sick pay stop?
SSP stops when the employee has received 28 weeks in a single or linked period of incapacity, or where a series of linked absences has run for more than 3 years. At that point the employer issues form SSP1 so the employee can claim Employment and Support Allowance. A new SSP entitlement only becomes possible after the employee has returned to work for more than 56 days.
