Statutory Sick Pay for Employees

People who cannot get SSP

You cannot get SSP if you are not an employee or treated as one. This happens if

• you are unemployed - you can claim Incapacity Benefit (IB) instead from a Jobcentre Plus or social security office
• you are self-employed and do not also work for an employer - you can claim IB instead from a Jobcentre Plus or social security office
• you are a foreign-going mariner
• you are a serving member of the Armed Forces
• your employer has no place of business in Great Britain or Northern Ireland - you can claim IB instead from a Jobcentre Plus or social security office
• you are under age 16.

You cannot get SSP if, on the first day of a linked or unlinked PIW, any of the circumstances listed below apply.

If they do, your employer will give you a claim pack SSP 1.

You should fill in the claim form to claim Incapacity Benefit from a Jobcentre Plus or social security office (in Northern Ireland the Incapacity Benefits Branch) instead if

• you have already had 28 weeks SSP and you are sick again within eight weeks of your SSP ending
• your average weekly pay (before any deductions) during, at least, the eight weeks before your spell of sickness was less than the LEL for NI contribution purposes, see page 11 Calculating average weekly earnings
• you have not yet done any work for a new employer
• you have been receiving Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance within eight weeks of being sick or within 52 weeks if you are a Welfare to Work beneficiary. You will have received a letter from a Jobcentre Plus or social security office (in Northern Ireland the Incapacity Benefits Branch) which you should have given to your employer
• you are aged 65 or over on the first day of the PIW, or linked PIW
• you are away from work because of a trade dispute
• you are in legal custody. Legal custody means being kept in custody by the police or being in prison. It does not include helping the police voluntarily with their enquiries or if you are on bail
• you have had, with the same employer, a series of linked spells of sickness, over a period of three
• years, that finished less than eight weeks ago
• your contract of service ends. Your employer cannot end your contract purely or mainly to avoid paying SSP.

If you are a pregnant woman, you cannot get SSP for 26 weeks starting with the first day of entitlement to

• Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) from your employer, or
• Maternity Allowance (MA) from a Jobcentre Plus or social security office.

If you are not entitled to SMP or MA, you cannot get SSP for 18 weeks starting with the earlier of

• the Sunday of the week the baby is born, or
• the Sunday of the week you are first off sick on or after the start of the fourth week before the baby is due.

Where a PIW does not start until after the end of the disqualification period, SSP should be considered by your employer under the normal rules for that PIW.

Where a PIW started before, or during, the disqualification period, SSP will not become payable until there has been a break of at least eight weeks after that PIW, that is a new, unlinked, PIW is formed.

Further information on maternity rights is contained in leaflets BC1 Babies and Children, BC2 Expecting a Baby?, BC3 Bringing up Children and NI17A A Guide to Maternity Benefits, which you can get from a Jobcentre Plus or social security office (in Northern Ireland from the Department for Social Development). Leaflet PL958 (rev 7) Maternity Rights, a guide for employers and employees which you can get by contacting The Department of Trade and Industry on 0870 150 2500. Northern Ireland residents should see Employment Rights booklet ER16 Maternity Rights - A Guide for Employers and Employees and leaflets MR1 Changes to Maternity Rights, MR2 Parental Leave and MR3 Time-Off for Dependants all of which are available from a Jobcentre Plus or social security office.