| Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) | This is a state benefit available to people of working age who aren’t able to work due to illness or disability.
An employee can claim ESA if: - The employee isn’t eligible for SSP
- The employee isn't able to return to work once their 28 week entitlement to SSP is complete
For more information about ESA, visit Employment and Support Allowance |
| Fit note | Your employee’s doctor supplies the fit note, or Statement of Fitness for Work. This replaces the old style sick note. From 1 July 2022, nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists and physiotherapists can also issue fit notes. |
| LEL | Lower earnings limit for national insurance contributions. For 2025/2026 this is £125. In 2026/2027, the LEL is no longer relevant. |
| Linking period | If the employee was sick within the last 56 days, this is the linking period to the current period of sickness. In this case, the employee doesn’t have to serve the waiting days again. |
| Period of incapacity for work (PIW) | This is the period when your employee is sick and unable to work. |
| Relevant period | This is the period used to calculate the employee’s average earnings. It’s eight weeks before the first day of sickness. Sometimes called the set period. |
| Set period | See Relevant period above. |
| SC2 | This is HMRC’s form SC2 – Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) Employee’s statement of sickness. It’s an employees self-certification form. You can even produce your own form for the employee to complete. |
| SSP1 | Give an SSP1 form to any employee who is off sick but does not qualify for Statutory Sick Pay.
You can complete form SSP1 online and print it. |
| SSP rate | The rate is £118.75 for 2025/2026. For 2026/2027, the rate is £123.25 or 80% of the employees average weekly earnings, which ever is lower. |
| Waiting days | The first three days of the PIW. Know as waiting days. You don’t pay SSP for these days. |