SPM10405 - Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) - Notification and Evidence of Sickness

Telling employer of absence from work due to sickness

For entitlement to SSP to be considered, an employee must tell their employer that they are absent from work due to sickness.

Employers can make their own rules as to when and how they are told that the employee is unfit for work but regulation 7 of the SSP (General) Regulation 1982 restricts these rules for SSP purposes.

Employers cannot insist that the employee tell them:

• in person
• earlier than the first QD of the PIW or by a specified time on the first QD
• more than once every seven days during the PIW
• on a document supplied by the employer
• on a medical certificate, or
• on a printed form.

If the employer has no rules about notification of sick absence, the employee or their representative must tell their employer of any day they are unfit for work within seven days. If they do this by post they are treated as having given notice on the day they posted it.