Statutory Sick Pay

Contents

What is it?

SSP is paid to you by your employer when you are absent from work because of sickness, providing you satisfy all the qualifying conditions.

Further Information

You can contact your HMRC office or telephone 0845 302 1479 Monday to Friday 08.00 – 17.00.

It is an earnings replacement and is paid to you on the same day you would normally receive your wages for the same period. SSP is paid for a maximum of 28 weeks in each spell of sickness.

Can I get it?

To qualify for SSP from your employer you must satisfy all of the following;

  • You have done some work for your employer since you first started work for him
  • Your earnings attract a liability for employer’s Class 1 NI contributions (or would but for your age and level of earnings)
  • You have been off work sick for four or more days in a row. All days count for this including weekends and bank holidays and any days you don’t normally work. This is called a Period of Incapacity to Work (PIW)
  • You have average weekly earnings of not less than the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) for NI contributions purposes. This is currently £84 per week for April 2006-2007 tax year.
  • You work for your employer for at least one day each week. This is called a Qualifying Day (QD) and these are the only days that SSP can be paid to you. But if you work a shift pattern where you have to work in one, or more, weeks but don’t work at all in the next week/s, the QD/s must be either the days you normally work in your working week/s or the Wednesday. This must be agreed between your employer and their workforce.
  • You cannot get SSP for the first three QD’s in a PIW. These are called Waiting Days (WD’s)

If you satisfy all of the above, then you are entitled to receive SSP from your employer.

If you do not satisfy all of the above conditions then your employer must complete form SSP1 and send it to you to claim Incapacity Benefit from your local Jobcentre Plus Office instead. If he doesn’t send you the form, you should ask him to complete and send it. Contact your Jobcentre Plus office as soon as you know you won’t get SSP, you don’t need wait for the SSP1.

Note: If you have had two or more PIW’s separated from each other by a gap of eight weeks (that is 56 days) or less, these PIW 's are linked and are treated as one PIW. This means that if the three WD’s have already been served in the first spell of sickness there will be no WD’s to be served in any later linked PIW

How do I get it?

When you notify your employer of your sickness, which is either;

  • within seven days of your first day of incapacity or
  • in accordance with your employers rules

your employer will tell you whether you qualify for SSP and when you will receive it. It should be paid to you on the same day you would receive your wages.

For days of incapacity of seven days or less, your employer may ask you to fill in a self certificate form, which may be their own version or form SC2 which you can also get from your GP surgery.

If you are sick for more than seven days you must provide your employer with a medical certificate from your doctor as evidence of your incapacity.

How much will I get?

If your average weekly earnings before deductions such as tax and National Insurance contributions are £84 a week or more, the standard weekly rate of SSP is £70.05 for days of sickness between 6 April 2006 and 5 April 2007.

What if I can’t get it?

You cannot get SSP if you are not an employee or treated as one. This happens if;

  • you are unemployed – you can claim Incapacity Benefit (IB) instead
  • you are self employed and do not also work for an employer – you can claim IB instead
  • you are a serving member of the Armed Forces
  • your employer has no place of business in Great Britain or Northern Ireland – you can claim IB instead
  • you are a foreign-going mariner

Also, you cannot get SSP if, on the first day of the PIW or linked PIW any of the following apply;

  • you have already received 28 weeks SSP and you are sick again within eight weeks of your SSP ending
  • your average weekly earnings before any deductions during at least, the eight weeks before your spell of sickness, was less than the LEL for NI contribution purposes
  • you have not yet done any work for a new employer
  • you are away from work because of a trade dispute
  • you are in legal custody
  • you are a woman within your 18/26 or 39 (if the week the baby due date is on or after 1 April 2007) week disqualifying period spanning the week your baby is due during which you cannot get SSP
  • you have had, with the same employer, a series of linked spells of sickness, over a period of three years, that finished less than eight weeks ago
  • your contract of service ends. Your employer cannot end your contract to avoid paying you SSP.
  • You have received IB or Severe Disablement Allowance within eight weeks of being sick, or within 52 weeks (104 weeks from 9 October 2006) if you are a Welfare to Work Beneficiary. You will have received a letter from your Jobcentre Plus Office (in Northern Ireland the Incapacity Benefits Branch) which you should have given to your employer, see leaflet IB1

If any of the above apply your employer will send you form SSP1 to fill in to claim Incapacity Benefit at your Jobcentre Plus Office.

What if I disagree with my employer’s decision about the payment of SSP?

If you think your employer did not pay you SSP when they should have done or have paid you too little, you are entitled to a written statement from them aboutt

  • The days you got SSP , if any
  • How much SSP you got for each of those days
  • Why they did not pay you SSP for other days when you were sick.

If you still think that your employer’s decision is wrong and you cannot resolve it with them, you can ask your HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) office for a formal decision from the Commissioners for HM Revenue & Customs.

The officer making the decision will send the formal decision to you and your employer with details of any further action either of you should take. If your employer takes no action following the formal decision, get in touch with your HMRC office again.

Your employer will not be able to pay you SSP while your disagreement is being resolved. If there is an appeal against the decision you may not get any money for several months. If you do not have enough money to live on, you may be able to claim Income Support from your Jobcentre Plus Office.

What happens when my SSP ends?

SSP will stop when your sickness ends, or if you are still sick it may be because;

  • You have received the maximum 28 weeks entitlement, part of which was with a previous employer.
    If you are sick during the last eight weeks of your employment and you have received at least a week or more SSP (more than three days is counted as a week) you can ask your employer to give you a leavers statement, form SSP1(L). This is because a new employer can take into account SSP paid by a previous employer when working out your 28 weeks maximum SSP. It may mean that, should your incapacity continue, you will transfer to the higher rate of IB earlier than you would otherwise be able to do.
  • You are pregnant but cannot get MA/SMP. You cannot get SSP for 18 weeks starting from the earlier of
    - the Sunday of the week the baby is born, or
    - the Sunday of the week you are absent from work with a pregnancy related illness on or after the start of the fourth week before the baby is due. pregnancy related illness on or after the start of the fourth week before the baby is due.
  • Your contract of service has come to an end

Your employer should complete form SSP1 and give it to you so that you can claim IB instead.

Further information

If you would like any further help or information about Statutory Sick Pay, you can contact your HMRC office.

You may also want to contact any Arbitration and Conciliation Advisory Service (Acas) office .

Information on all aspects of employment legislation is available from Citizens Advice Bureau, low pay units and trade unions.

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