What is sick pay?
Sick pay is the payment of wages or salary to an employee who is unable to attend work due to illness or injury. Sick pay comes in two forms:
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statutory sick pay (SSP), which most employees are entitled to receive if they are off sick from work
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contractual sick pay, which are earnings that an Employment contract states that an employee is entitled to receive in the event of sickness (and are more generous than SSP)
Statutory sick pay
Employees may be eligible for SSP, which from 6 April 2025 is paid at up to £118.75 a week for up to 28 weeks.
SSP is paid:
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for the days an employee normally works (‘qualifying days’)
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in the same way as wages, that is, on a normal payday, deducting tax and National insurance
Employers cannot force employees to take annual leave when they're eligible for sick leave.
SSP is paid when the employee is sick for at least four days in a row (including non-working days, such as weekends). The employer should start paying SSP from the fourth qualifying day. The first three qualifying days are called ‘waiting days’ and during this time, the employee is not paid SSP, unless they were off sick and getting SSP within the last eight weeks.
SSP usually stops when the employee comes back to work or is no longer eligible.
Eligibility for SSP
An employee will qualify for SSP when they:
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are an employee
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have done some work under their contract
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have been off sick for four or more days in a row (including non-working days) - known as a ‘period of incapacity for work’
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earn at least £125 (before tax) a week
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give you the correct notice
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give you proof of their illness after the deadline you set (or, if you have not set a deadline, after seven days off sickness)
New employees who have been paid less than eight weeks of earnings still qualify for SSP. Use the government's sick pay calculator to work out how much SSP should be paid.
Contractual sick pay
You can offer more sick pay than the statutory government minimum if you have a business sick pay scheme (also known as an 'occupational scheme'). However, you cannot offer less. Such business schemes are also called 'contractual' sick pay and must be included in an employment contract.
The employee's contract may provide that they will receive their normal salary when absent during illness (in which case, there will be no need for payment of SSP), or they will receive their normal salary less the amount of statutory sick pay. If contractual sick pay is not payable at all under the terms of the employee's contract, then the employee will only be entitled to SSP.
Sickness policy
Some sickness policies state that it’s in the employer’s discretion to pay contractual sick pay or pay SSP. Employees should always check their Sickness policy if they are unsure about how sickness absences are managed.
Data protection related to sick pay
Employers should be aware of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), which is the main legislation implementing the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
The DPA requires employers to comply with the principles for processing (eg storing) personal data (eg names and addresses), including being transparent and providing information to employees about personal data and how it is used. Employers can meet this obligation by providing an Employee privacy notice detailing how data collected to keep a record of absence and to manage absence procedures is processed when an employee starts work.
Data in relation to employees’ health is considered a ‘special category’ of data, which means that there are special rules for how the information is processed. The DPA will allow an employer to process special categories of data and criminal records where the processing is necessary for performing obligations or exercising rights under employment law, provided that the employer has an appropriate Data protection and security policy in place.
For more information, read Managing staff health data and Data protection and employees.
