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HMRC clarifies statutory sick pay changes for employers
- Sara White
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
With significant changes to statutory sick pay (SSP) with day one eligibility from April, HMRC clarifies payment requirements if sickness straddles old and new rules and for employees on longer term absence.
Inevitably some staff will be off sick before and after the start of the day one rights, impacting the way employers calculate payments.
HMRC has issued guidance for employers on how to deal with sickness absences that start before and end on or after 6 April 2026. This explains how to deal with sickness periods spanning pre and post new rules, flagging a critical date of 22 September 2025, the point at which entitlement effectively kicks in for those who have been on longer term sickness since that date.
As part of the government’s sweeping Employment Rights Act, from 6 April this year, statutory sick pay (SSP) will be payable to all eligible employees regardless of their earnings, payable from the first full day of sickness absence and paid at 80% of an employee’s average weekly earnings (AWE) or the uprated weekly flat rate of £123.25, whichever is lower. Based on government estimates, the extension of SSP is expected to cost employers £420m a year.
The detailed HMRC SSP guidance states: ‘If an employee started their sickness absence before 6 April 2026 but was not entitled to SSP because they earned below the LEL, they may be entitled to SSP from 6 April 2026.’
HMRC clarified: ‘An employee will be entitled to SSP from 6 April 2026 if their sickness absence started on or:
after 22 September 2025;
before 21 September 2025, but they had periods where they returned to work between 22 September 2025 and 5 April 2026.
‘For these employees, you should calculate their AWE based on the period before their sickness absence (or their first sickness absence if it is a linked period). They will be entitled to their weekly rate of SSP for up to 28 weeks.’
It is critical for employers to review current sickness absences, and start dates to ensure compliance with the new day one sickness payment rules.
There is also the critical date of 21 September 2025 to note as this is the trigger day for payments.
‘An employee will not be entitled to SSP from 6 April 2026 if their sickness absence started on or before 21 September 2025 and continued without a break until 5 April 2026,’ HMRC confirmed.
This also applies to any linked sickness absence that continues on or after 6 April 2026. Employees will only become entitled to SSP again once they have returned to work for at least eight weeks.
HMRC advises employers to check if the employee is still eligible for SSP before paying it, particularly taking into account any benefit payments. If an employee has received employment and support allowance (ESA) benefit payments in the last 85 days, they are not eligible.
End of waiting days
When the new rules come into effect, waiting days will immediately be superseded by the new day one right.
If an employee’s sickness absence has just started and they would have had waiting days under the old rules, those waiting days no longer apply from 6 April 2026. SSP will not be paid for waiting days before 6 April 2026.
Restarting a sickness absence
Some employees may have been off sick before 6 April 2026 and received SSP, then returned to work, but restarted a sickness absence from 4 or 5 April 2026.
‘If the employee restarted a sickness absence from 4 or 5 April 2026 and it continues on or after 6 April 2026, the number of qualifying SSP days depends on how long the sickness absence lasts. If it lasts:
three days or less - SSP is only paid for qualifying days on or after 6 April 2026;
four days or more - SSP is paid for any qualifying days from the first day of the restarted sickness absence.
An employee receiving SSP before 6 April 2026
Employees already receiving SSP before 6 April 2026 should be paid the new rate from 6 April 2026.
If an employee was already off sick before 6 April 2026 and their AWE would mean their SSP rate would reduce, they should be paid the new flat rate instead of 80% of their AWE.
This will apply if the employee:
earns between £125 and £154.05 per week
was receiving SSP before 6 April 2026, and is still off sick on that date.
This ends when the employee returns to work or their SSP entitlement ends. If they return to work after 6 April 2026 and later go off sick again, they should be paid 80% of their AWE for that new absence, even if that absence is linked.
To prepare for the SSP changes, employers are urged to review their sickness absence policies, check payroll providers are ready if they use one, and inform staff about the changes.
Gemma O’Connor, head of HR Advisory at BrightHR, said: ‘The changes to statutory sick pay (SSP) which are coming in April are likely to mean an increase in the number of short-term absences as employees will get a level of pay from the first day of absence. This means there will no longer be as much of a financial barrier when it comes to taking time off sick.
‘Our calculations estimate that an additional 200,000 workers will be off on the sickest day next year. That’s a minimum cost of £5.13m to UK employers, for just one day.’
With the host of new day one rights, employers need to review their employment contracts to ensure they reflect the new legal requirements.
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