SPM10150 - Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) - General Information: Dealing with questions about SSP

Enquiries from Employers

Employers wanting advice on how to administer the SSP scheme or with a query about a particular circumstance will usually contact:

• The Employers Helpline at East Kilbride (phone 0845 714 3143)
• HMRC contact centres
• HMRC Advice Team ( phone 0845 603 2691)

HMRC offices and Employer Support Teams (EST) should deal with general enquiries from employers about operating the statutory payments schemes and PTS including:

• queries about record keeping
• changes of rates
• how to correctly decide entitlement, and
• any other matters covered in E14 Employer Helpbook for Statutory Sick Pay.

Any compliance issues should be passed to the appropriate compliance area for action. The Employer Compliance Officer (ECO) should deal with any queries raised at a payroll review.

When dealing with general queries from employers remember that the Advice Teams offer a range of workshops on SSP and other statutory payments free of charge to the employer.

Employers can request help from the Business Education & Support Team on-line or they can ring the helpline for New Employers, telephone 0845 60 70 143.

Alternatively you should take the employers details and contact their Advice Team on 0845 603 2691 on their behalf.

Requests for medical advice or to arrange for an employee to be referred to Medical Services for an examination are dealt with by the SP Disputes Team, see SPM10155.

Enquiries by Employees

Employees normally contact HMRC for help or advice because they are in dispute with their employer, who is not paying them SSP.

Although all initial or general enquiries are dealt with by the HMRC Enquiry Centre (phone 0845 302 1479) or by an ECO, the following should be referred to the Statutory Payments Dispute Team, Room BP 2002, Benton Park View, Longbenton, Newcastle upon Tyne. NE98 1YS:

• an employer wishes to get independent medical advice from Medical Services
• an employee wants to apply for a formal decision
• an employer defaults or becomes insolvent
• a dispute between employer and employee about SSP entitlement cannot be settled by giving the employee/employer general information

Cases are also referred to the SP Disputes Team by the decision maker at a Jobcentre Plus/Jobs and Benefits (in Northern Ireland) office on behalf of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. This happens if an employee has been told by their employer that they are not entitled to SSP and has claimed IB or from 27 October 2008 ESA, but the decision maker thinks that there may be entitlement to SSP.

Any compliance issues should be passed to the appropriate compliance area for action. The ECO should deal with any queries raised at a payroll review.