Statutory Sick Pay – is change on the horizon?

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is one of those payroll areas that seems simple on the surface but regularly causes confusion in practice, particularly for part-time workers, employees with irregular working patterns and employers without enhanced sick pay schemes.

With HMRC actively reviewing aspects of SSP, it is an area employers need to understand and keep on their radar.

How SSP currently works

At present, SSP is paid at a flat weekly rate of £118.75 (2025/26 rate) for eligible employees who are off sick. But there are several key rules employers need to understand:

• SSP is not paid for the first three qualifying days of sickness. These are known as ‘waiting days’.
• If an employee does not receive employer sick pay, they only qualify for SSP from the fourth qualifying day they are off sick.
• Employees can self-certify sickness for up to seven calendar days. After that, a fit note is required.
• SSP is paid weekly, not daily. The SSP rate is a weekly figure, but payroll systems must calculate the correct daily rate based on the employee’s normal working pattern.

This is where complexity often creeps in.

What about SSP for part-time workers?

SSP is not increased or reduced depending on how many days an employee works. A full-time employee working five days a week and a part-time employee working, for example, three days a week are both entitled to the same weekly SSP rate.

However, the daily SSP rate differs depending on the number of qualifying days:

• A five-day worker’s SSP is spread over five days
• A three-day worker’s SSP is spread over three days

This means a three-day-a-week employee may receive a higher SSP amount per day but the total weekly SSP remains the same.

This distinction often surprises both employers and employees and needs careful handling in payroll to avoid errors.

Potential changes to SSP

HMRC is considering several changes to SSP. Its headline proposal is a day-one entitlement, abolishing waiting days. It is also considering lowering the weekly earnings limit. Currently, employees must earn, roughly, £125 a week to qualify. If reforms are adopted, this limit would be removed, with SSP available to all employees.

It should be noted that these are, currently, just proposals and not government policy. Yet if they were adopted, short-term absences would become more expensive for businesses without employer sick pay schemes.

How Kreston Reeves can help with SSP through outsourced payroll

Employers that outsource their payroll to Kreston Reeves will see SSP rules applied correctly across different working patterns, with changes to the rules applied automatically. We also keep track of government consultations and changes as they apply to payroll, ensuring the compliance obligations are minimised.

With SSP under review and employment costs already under pressure, accurate payroll processing – and forward-looking advice – is more important than ever.

For more information on the potential changes to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) or how we can support you with outsourcing your payroll, please contact us today and speak with a member of the team.