Employer Handbook for Statutory Sick Pay

Has your employee given you the right medical evidence?

Evidence of incapacity for work

You must tell your employees what you expect them to give you as evidence of incapacity for SSP purposes and when you expect them to give it.

Incapacity for four to seven days

For spells of sickness lasting four to seven days, you may accept self-certification verbally or by letter, or they can use form SC2 for self-certification, or your own equivalent form.

Incapacity lasts more than seven days

After the seventh day, you can ask for reasonable medical evidence but can only ask for a doctor’s statement after the first seven days in a spell of sickness. You can then ask for regular doctor’s statements to cover the balance of the sick absence.

As an employer, the decision on whether or not evidence of illness is required, and if so, what evidence is acceptable, ultimately rests with you.

Remember a doctor’s statement is strong evidence of incapacity and should usually be accepted as conclusive unless there is more compelling evidence to the contrary.

You can’t withhold SSP for late receipt of medical evidence The late receipt of medical evidence could be,for example, because your employee is unable to get an appointment with their GP by the eighth day of incapacity or that their sickness has unexpectedly continued or recurred into the eighth day and an appointment with their GP has only just been arranged.

You may also find that your employee gives you certificates from someone who is not a registered medical practitioner, such as:

• osteopaths
• chiropractors
• Christian Scientists
• herbalists
• acupuncturists.

You should consider such certificates on their own merits. It is for you to decide whether or not you accept this evidence. If you have any doubts you can still ask for a doctor’s statement.

Opinion from Medical Services

If you have strong doubts about your employee’s sickness but don’t have access to your own ‘works’ doctor, you can ask HMRC to arrange for your employee to be medically examined by their medical services provider.

The Medical Services report will give an opinion on your employee’s fitness for work in their job with you. This will help you to decide if the employee is incapable of work in their job with you or not.

You can also use this service where the employee has been repeatedly off sick for four to seven days in a relatively short period.

There is an example of a letter you may wish to use to advise your employee that you consider they are not entitled to SSP for this reason.

If you wish to get advice from Medical Services, you should write to;

HM Revenue and Customs National Insurance Office
Statutory Payments Disputes Team
Room BP2301
Benton Park View
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE98 1ZZ

explaining that you are seeking Medical Services help about your employee.

Employee provides you with a non-UK medical certificate

If your employee provides you with a non-UK medical certificate for a period when they were abroad during sick absence that requires translation into English, HMRC can only arrange translation where you are in dispute with your employee on their SSP entitlement, otherwise you should refer the medical certificate to an outside translator.

© Crown copyright 2009