SPM10555 - Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) - Employees who cannot receive SSP when they go sick: Jobcentre Plus Benefit recipients

Regulation 3 of the Statutory Sick Pay (General) Regulations 1982

An employee is not entitled to SSP if for any day within a PIW beginning with the first day on which paragraph 2(d) of Schedule 11 to the SSCBA 1992 ceases to have effect if:

• they were entitled to IB or from 27 October 2008 ESA , MA or SDA, and
• regulation 13A of the Social Security (Incapacity for Work) (General) Regulations 1995 applies.

Under the Government’s Welfare to Work Programme, some employees are entitled to return to benefits for up to 104 weeks after starting or resuming work for an employer. 

An employee who has returned to work under the welfare to work provisions will have been given a letter by Jobcentre Plus office to give to their new employer. This form will tell the employer whether the linking period for benefits is 8 weeks (increased to 12 weeks from 27 October 2008), 52 or 104 weeks.

For Linking Letters BF220/ESA220, BF220A, BF220B, BF220C, see SPM10340.

Jobcentre Plus Benefit recipients

Employees who have recently received Incapacity Benefit (IB) or Severe Disability Allowance (SDA) will not be able to return to those benefits if they become sick on or after 31 January 2011. This is because IB/SDA recipients will start to be migrated onto ESA during 2011.

To help with this process, the linking rules for 8 week and 104 week linking to IB/SDA benefits will be abolished.

Where an employee has been in receipt of IB/SDA and would have qualified for this linking provision, they should claim ESA from Jobcentre Plus instead of SSP from their employer.

Regulation 23 of Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2010 (SI2010/1907)