Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) Calculator

How much is Statutory Sick Pay in 2026/27?

Statutory Sick Pay is £123.25 a week or 80% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower, for up to 28 weeks. The two meet at £154.06 a week (about £8,011 a year): earn more and you get the flat rate, earn less and you get 80% of your pay. Average weekly earnings are normally worked out over the 8 weeks before you went off sick.

SSP is paid for qualifying days, which are the days you normally work. The daily rate is the weekly rate divided by the number of qualifying days in the week, so a 3-day worker gets a larger daily amount for fewer days. Fractions of a penny are rounded up when the total is paid.

What changed on 6 April 2026

The Employment Rights Act 2025, which received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025, made three changes to SSP from 6 April 2026 (Commencement Regulations SI 2026/373):

• No waiting days: SSP is paid from the first day of sickness absence. Before, the first 3 qualifying days were unpaid.
• No lower earnings limit: before, you had to earn at least £125 a week (2025/26) to get any SSP. Now everyone who is an employee qualifies.
• A new 80% rate: people earning less than £154.06 a week get 80% of their earnings instead of nothing or the flat rate. The Act set the flat rate at £118.75; it was uprated to £123.25 for 2026/27.
• A period of sickness now counts from one day off. The old rule needed 4 or more days in a row before any SSP was due.

Old rules vs new rules: worked examples

Five days off, earning £450 a week on a 5-day week: under the old rules the first 3 days were waiting days, so SSP was £49.30. Now all 5 days are paid: £123.25. A 2-day absence used to pay nothing at all; it now pays £49.30.

A part-time worker on £110 a week, working 3 days, off for 6 working days: under the old rules they were below the lower earnings limit and got nothing. Now they get 80% of their earnings, £88.00 a week, £176.00 for the absence.

If you were already off sick on 6 April 2026, transitional rules apply: waiting days still to be served became payable from 6 April, and people earning between £125 and £154.05 a week whose SSP was already running kept the full £123.25 rate rather than dropping to 80%.

Who can get SSP and how to claim

• You must be an employee (including agency workers) and have done some work for your employer. You can get SSP from more than one job at once.
• Tell your employer you are sick within their deadline, or within 7 days if they do not have one.
• For 7 days or less you can self-certify. After more than 7 days in a row, including non-working days, your employer can ask for a fit note from a GP or hospital.
• Spells of sickness 8 weeks or less apart are linked and count towards the same 28-week maximum. Linked spells stop counting after 3 years.
• You cannot get SSP if you are getting Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance, are in custody, or are on strike on the first day of sickness.
• If you do not qualify, or your SSP will end, your employer must give you form SSP1 so you can claim other benefits.

Tax, company sick pay and NHS sick pay

SSP is taxed and has National Insurance deducted like normal pay. A whole year of SSP would be £6,409, below the £12,570 Personal Allowance, so most people only pay tax on SSP when it is added to their other pay for the year. Employers cannot reclaim SSP from HMRC.

Many employers pay more under an occupational or company sick pay scheme. That replaces SSP rather than adding to it: the employer pays the higher of the two, and SSP counts towards the total.

NHS Agenda for Change staff in England get occupational sick pay that grows with length of NHS service. The allowance is reduced by any paid sick leave in the previous 12 months. Since July 2018, “full pay” for most staff is basic pay plus high cost area supplements, without unsocial hours payments; staff on the old protected terms (basic pay of £18,160 or less in June 2018) keep enhancements. Half pay plus SSP must not exceed full pay.

When SSP runs out

After 28 weeks of SSP (including linked spells), your employer stops paying it and must send form SSP1 by the start of the 23rd week. You can apply for New Style Employment and Support Allowance up to 3 months before your SSP ends, if you have paid enough National Insurance in the last 2 to 3 years, or claim Universal Credit if your household income is low. You cannot get New Style ESA while you are getting SSP.