SPM10555 - Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) - Employees who cannot receive SSP when they go sick: Jobcentre Plus Benefit recipients
From 1 May 2012
New regulations introduced from 1 May 2012 withdraw the 104 week link for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Therefore, from 1 May 2012 the employer no longer needs to refer their employee to the Jobcentre Plus office to claim ESA unless the employee is within 12 weeks of their last day of entitlement to benefit.
Form ESA220B will be obsolete from this date
Jobcentre Plus Benefit recipients
Employees who have recently received Incapacity Benefit (IB) or Severe Disablement 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 have been abolished.
Instead, if an employee has received ESA within 12 or 104 weeks of being sick, they will not be entitled to SSP but will be able to claim ESA from Jobcentre Plus.
Regulation 23 of Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2010 (SI2010/1907)
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 Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Maternity Allowance (MA) or Severe Disablement Allowance (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, BF220A, BF220B, BF220C for use up to 27 October 2008 or ESA equivalent linking forms for use up to 31 January 2011, see SPM10340.
