Statutory Sick Pay for Employees

When SSP Ends

Going back to work

SSP will stop when your sickness ends. If you are not sick, but are still away from work for another reason, for example because you are on holiday, you will not get SSP for that time.

If you are still off work

SSP can end while you are still sick if

• you have been entitled to SSP for 28 weeks (part of which could have been with a previous employer - see Leaving your job), or
• you have had linked spells of sickness spread over a period of three years and have not received a maximum 28 weeks SSP. Remember spells of sickness of four or more days in a row, with eight weeks or less between them, are linked together. They count as just one spell of sickness, or
  • you are pregnant and you are getting MA/SMP. If you cannot get MA/SMP your SSP will stop for 18 weeks starting with the earlier of the following two dates:
  • the day after your baby is born
  • the day after the first complete day of absence from work because of a pregnancy related illness on or after the start of the fourth week before the week the baby is due, or
• your contract of service with that employer comes to an end. However, if your employer ends your contract mainly to avoid having to pay you SSP, the rules say that you must continue to be paid SSP until there is another reason for the employer not to pay you, for example
• your sickness ends, or
• you are taken into legal custody.

If your employer stops paying you SSP for one of these reasons, they must issue you with a form SSP 1 which explains why SSP is ending and that you need to apply for IB.

Your employer may use a computer produced version of the employer's part of the SSP1.

If your employer knows in advance when SSP will end and that you are likely still to be sick then, you should be given the form SSP1 at least two weeks before (six weeks before if you will get 28 weeks of SSP). Otherwise they will give you the form as soon as they know SSP has ended.

If you want to claim IB, you should fill in the rest of the form at once and send the whole form to a Jobcentre Plus or social security office (Incapacity Benefits Branch, in Northern Ireland). Also send a sick note, usually a doctor's statement, covering you from the day after SSP ends.