Statutory sick pay (SSP)

When to record Coronavirus (COVID-19) SSP

When recording sick pay related to Coronavirus (COVID-19), you must pay employees sick pay, from the first day they're off. Find out how to record COVID-19 SSP >

If their illness is not Coronavirus (COVID-19) related, you must pay them normal sick pay from the fourth day they're off.

The government has set up a scheme to allow you to reclaim SSP paid to employees due to COVID-19. Read more >

Normal qualifying conditions for SSP

The employee must be off sick for four or more days in a row. The amount due depends on their normal working days, these are the qualifying days. There's no SSP due for the first three qualifying days they're off sick. These are known as waiting days.

The employee's average weekly earnings must be at or above the lower earnings limit for national insurance. If it's less than £120.00 per week, the employee doesn't qualify for SSP and you must give them form SSP1.

The current rate of SSP is £96.35 per week. You can further information about entitlement and eligibility from GOV.UK.

You can find current daily SSP rates in this guide >

Proof of sickness

If an employee needs to take time off work when they're ill, whether they need a fit note depends on their length of sickness absence. Read more >

Process SSP in your payroll

There are two ways you can enter SSP in Sage 50cloud Payroll:

• Quick SSP - If you've never processed SSP before, this is the easiest way to enter your employee's sickness details and check their entitlement. Find out how >
• Via the employee's record and Enter Payments option - If you're used to processing SSP on the diary in the employee's record, you can enter detailed sickness information. Read more >