Minimum Wage and Statutory Pay Obligations

6. Statutory Sick Pay

6.1 Statutory sick pay (SSP) is paid up to a maximum of 28 weeks, to employees who are unable to work because of sickness.

• If an employee qualifies for SSP (see 6.2), it is paid at a flat rate of £75.40 a week.
• There is no qualifying length of service or minimum number of hours a week.
• Even if it is an employee's first day of work with a new employer and they become sick part way through the day, they may be entitled to SSP.
• Be sick for at least four or more days in a row (including weekends and bank holidays).
• Earn over the National Insurance lower-earnings limit of £90 a week.

6.2 Employees become entitled to SSP from the fourth 'qualifying day' of sickness.

A qualifying day is basically a day on which the employee would normally have worked.

• In practice, the rule means that there are usually three clear 'waiting days' before SSP is payable in any 'period of incapacity for work' (PIW).
• If the employee is sick on a weekend day or a Bank Holiday - or any other non-working day - this counts towards the four-day PIW, but is not a 'qualifying day'.
• Employers must issue form SSP1 by the end of the 23rd week to let the employee know when SSP will be ending.

6.3 You are entitled to ask for evidence that an employee is sick. This will usually be in the form of a sick note from their doctor.

• For the first seven days that they are sick, an employee must fill in a self-certificate of their own or form SC2 (Employee self certification form) which can be obtained from a GP's surgery or HM Revenue & Customs website.

6.4 If an employee is receiving SSP for a pregnancy related illness at the start of, or in the four weeks before her baby is due, SSP will stop and any entitlement to statutory maternity pay (SMP) or maternity allowance (MA) will start automatically.

• If she is entitled to SMP or MA, she cannot receive SSP for 26 weeks starting with the day of entitlement to those payments.
• If she is not entitled to SMP or MA, she cannot receive SSP for 18 weeks starting with the Sunday of the week her baby is born, or the Sunday of the week she is sick from work for a pregnancy related illness.

6.5 You can withhold SSP if the employee:

• Has recently drawn a state benefit (such as sickness, incapacity or maternity benefit).
• Is held in custody.

6.6 Employers must keep full records of SSP.

• Records must be kept for three years.
• Failure to do so can lead to a £1,000 fine.

6.7 You can get money back from HM Revenue & Customs if the SSP you pay out exceeds a set level.

• If your SSP exceeds 13 per cent of your gross NI contributions in any month (which is unusual), you can reclaim the extra in full.