Understand Statutory Sick Pay

When to start and stop payments

Within limits you can set up your own rules about how your employees inform you when they are sick. An employee must be sick for at least four days in a row before payment of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) should be considered. A period of four or more consecutive calendar days of sickness is known as a Period of Incapacity for Work (PIW).

Linking
If a PIW starts within eight weeks of the end of a previous PIW, the periods are linked.

The first three qualifying days in a PIW are called waiting days. SSP is not payable for waiting days.

Where PIWs are linked, only the first three days of the initial PIW are waiting days.

Qualifying Days (QDs)
These are the employee's contractual or normal working days, unless other days have been agreed with the workforce. SSP is paid for each qualifying day after the waiting days.

Stopping payment
SSP usually stops once an employee returns to work. Calculate if any SSP is still owing to them for previous days of sickness - any money that is outstanding should be paid on their next normal pay day.

Payment of SSP should stop if your employee either is still off sick after SSP has been paid for 28 weeks, or has had linked periods of sickness that have spanned a period of three years - even if you haven't paid a total 28 weeks' worth of SSP.

You must fill in form SSP1 and send it to your employee immediately. Your employee can use SSP1 to claim incapacity benefit.

If you know in advance that an employee will be off sick for more than 28 weeks, send form SSP1 to your employee earlier so that they can claim incapacity benefit without delay.

Download form SSP1 for Statutory Sick Pay from the DWP website (PDF).

For information on PIWs and when to stop SSP payments, download the help book on what to do if your employee is sick from the HM Revenue & Customs website (PDF).

You can also download information on special cases and examples of employee sickness from the HM Revenue & Customs website (PDF).

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• What is Statutory Sick Pay and who gets it?
• Earnings-related qualification for SSP
• When to start and stop payments
• How much to pay
• Record keeping and forms
• Getting subsidies or relief
• Alternatives to paying Statutory Sick Pay
• Contractual issues

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