In this fourth post of our series on the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA), and with just over two weeks to go before the next tranche of eight changes come into force on 6 April 2026, we are going to look in summary at Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). As with all summaries, there are always some exceptions but, for the sake of brevity, we have kept to the main features.
SSP was introduced in 1983, when it was available for eight weeks of sick leave and the Government picked up 100% of the cost. In 1986 that was extended to 28 weeks but by 1994 the Government stopped paying any of the cost.
Since then, the SSP scheme has remained the same apart from inflationary adjustments, so the changes coming in on 6 April 2026 represent the first significant shift for over 30 years.
Justifications for the change range from protecting lower paid workers who might not otherwise qualify for SSP, reducing the incidence of people coming to work when ill, and thus infecting others, and improving productivity by allowing employees to recover properly. For a deeper dive on that debate click here.
The current SSP scheme
To qualify for SSP currently, an individual must:
1. Pay Class 1 National Insurance contributions (which excludes the self-employed but not all casual workers);
2. Earn over the ‘Lower Earnings Limit’ of £125 per week on average over an eight-week reference period before their sick leave begins; and
3. Not be off sick for fewer than (consecutively) four of their normal working days. (The first three days of sickness absence on normal working days are known as ‘Waiting Days’).
The current SSP scheme therefore does not subject an employer to SSP liability for short term illnesses which make up roughly 30% of all sickness absence according to the ONS or, as some employers may suspect, employees taking ‘duvet days’ after a ‘Thirsty Thursday’ night out!
How will SSP change?
From 6 April 2026 neither the Lower Earnings Limit nor Waiting Days will be a qualifying criterion for SSP. In short, SSP will be available to all employees from the first day of sickness.
However instead of just a fixed weekly rate of SSP as currently (of £118.75 but increasing to £123.25 per week from 6 April 2026), SSP will be the lower of £123.25 and 80% of the employee’s normal weekly earnings.
To state the obvious, this means that if an employee earns less than £123.25 per week on average, then they will not receive more SSP than the wages they would have earned by being at work.
SSP for a single day of illness will be calculated by dividing the normal working days by the applicable weekly rate. An employee working Monday to Friday earning more than £123.25 per week, should expect to receive £24.65 per day.
Employers who are concerned that this new regime will encourage widescale malingering may be reassured that this sum represents less than two hours’ work at national living wage rates (which increase to £12.71 per hour from April) and will hopefully not be the motivating factor to ‘pull a sickie’ that is feared.
However, even if the increase in SSP payments is modest, it will add to the administrative burden on employers to manage these payments, which has its own cost and comes at a time when there are increases to other employment-related costs, for example, to the minimum wage, and other day one entitlements are being introduced.
Next Steps
Employers should review their handbooks and contracts with the aim of updating both their sickness and absence positions and, potentially, their capability policies.
Moreover, employers should be prepared to be more proactive regarding short-term absences. Even under the new SSP regime, individuals are still required to notify employers of their absence and provide evidence of their illness (self-certification/fit note).
Up to now, for short-term absences of a few days, employers are often guilty of overlooking these notification requirements because there have not been any financial consequences.
Employers are advised to review their own notification compliance record and to make operational changes as necessary. Prospective malingerers seeking to gain the system are less likely to do so if they have to misrepresent the truth on paper, go and see a doctor or potentially attend a return-to-work interview.
If you need any advice on SSP, putting in place an SSP or absence policy or updating your current one, please contact Michael-Jon Andrews or call 020 8944 5290 to speak to our Employment team.
Coming next – ERA changes to Sexual Harassment and Whistleblowing.