Statutory Sick Pay from day one: what employers need to check now

Since 6 April 2026, the rules for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) have been different. If you employ even one person, it is worth checking that your payroll, your absence policy and your managers all reflect the change. This post sets out what GOV.UK and Acas say, what it means in practice, and what to do this week.

What changed

Acas sets out three main changes from 6 April 2026:

• Payable from day one. SSP is payable from the first day of sickness. The three waiting days have gone.
• No lower earnings threshold. Part-time and lower-paid staff can now qualify. Acas says about 1.3 million low-paid employees previously received no SSP.
• A new calculation. SSP is the lower of the weekly rate or 80% of average weekly earnings.

GOV.UK currently gives the weekly rate as £123.25, paid for up to 28 weeks. Acas says the government estimates the changes will add about £450 million a year to employer SSP costs, roughly £15 per employee. Your own cost will depend on how often your staff are off for short spells.

How the 80% rule works

GOV.UK says an employee gets £123.25 a week or 80% of their normal weekly earnings, whichever is lower. Your employer calculates this using average weekly earnings over an 8-week period. If someone has started recently and has not yet received 8 weeks' pay, they still qualify, so you will need to work out a sensible figure from what they have been paid.

Here is a simple illustration, using our own arithmetic rather than an official example. An employee who averages £100 a week would get 80% of that, which is £80 a week, because it is lower than £123.25. An employee who averages £400 a week would get the full £123.25, because 80% of £400 is £320, which is higher than the weekly rate. Check your own staff against the official guidance, because the details of how daily amounts are worked out matter.

SSP is paid for the full days an employee is off sick that they would normally have worked. You pay it on the same schedule as normal wages, and tax and National Insurance are deducted.

Who qualifies

GOV.UK lists the basic conditions. The person must be an employee, must have done some work for you, and must have been ill for at least one full working day. Agency workers may also be entitled. Someone will not qualify if they have already received the maximum 28 weeks, or if they are receiving Statutory Maternity Pay.

Separate absences can join together as a "linked" period of sickness if each lasts more than one full working day and they are 8 weeks or less apart. Eligibility ends if a continuous series of linked periods runs longer than 3 years.

If someone does not qualify for SSP, you must send them form SSP1 within 7 days of their first day off sick. They can use it to support an application for Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance.

Notice, fit notes and evidence

Employees generally need to tell you they cannot work by the deadline you set. If you have not set one, the default is 7 days, and missing the deadline can reduce the SSP they receive. This is a good reason to write your reporting deadline into your absence policy, so everyone knows it.

A fit note is needed if someone is off for more than 7 days in a row, counting non-working days. GOV.UK says fit notes can come from a GP, hospital doctor, registered nurse, occupational therapist, pharmacist or physiotherapist, and can be printed or digital. With your agreement, an employee can give other evidence, such as an Allied Health Professional Health and Work Report or a return to work plan.

Company sick pay and holiday

You can offer more than SSP through a company scheme, sometimes called contractual or occupational sick pay, but never less. Any scheme must be included in the employment contract. If your contracts promise a different arrangement, check that it never falls below the statutory minimum, especially for short absences that used to attract nothing for the first three days.

GOV.UK also notes that statutory annual leave continues to build up while an employee is off sick, and it can be taken during sick leave.

Enforcement

Acas says the Fair Work Agency will have enforcement powers over SSP from April 2026. If an employee thinks they are not being paid the right amount, GOV.UK says they should talk to the employer first and can then contact the HMRC enquiry line. Getting the calculation right, and keeping a record of how you reached it, protects you if a question is raised.

Acas also stresses that the main challenge is operational rather than financial: updating payroll, revising absence policies, training managers, and keeping sickness records from day one.

What to do this week

Acas suggests a sensible sequence, and it fits a small business well:

• Audit your records. Check which staff were previously below the old earnings threshold, since they may now be entitled.
• Check your payroll. Ask your payroll provider or software supplier to confirm SSP is set up to pay from day one and uses the 80% rule. Run a test case for a part-time employee.
• Update your absence policy. State your reporting deadline, when fit notes are needed and how company sick pay interacts with SSP.
• Brief your managers. The person who takes the phone call on a Monday morning needs to log the absence from the first day.
• Tell your staff. Explain the entitlement clearly, so nobody is confused about what they will receive.

If you track absences on paper or in a spreadsheet, now is a good moment to move to something that records start dates, linked periods and fit note dates automatically. A simple, well-built workflow can do that without a big software bill. Our process automation work often starts with exactly this kind of small, repetitive admin task.

The bottom line

The change is modest per employee but easy to get wrong. The main risks are staff who were previously excluded not being paid, short absences being treated as unpaid out of habit, and the 80% calculation being applied inconsistently. A short audit and a payroll test case will cover most of it. For anything unusual, such as irregular hours or several jobs, take advice from your accountant or payroll provider, or from Acas.