Statutory sick pay from day one: an employer checklist

Sick pay is one of the few employment-law changes that lands straight in the payroll file. If someone in your business was off for three days this summer and the pay run looked exactly as it would have done in 2025, something has been missed.

The rules changed on 6 April 2026, and most of the work for a small employer is checking that five things actually happened: the payroll settings, the rate for your lowest earners, the fit-note habit, the wording of your sick pay policy, and where the sickness records live.

As checked on 23 September 2026, statutory sick pay has been payable from the first full day of sickness absence since 6 April 2026, and the lower earnings limit has been removed. Regulation 2 of the commencement regulations made on 25 March 2026 brought in section 10 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, which removed the waiting period, and section 11, which removed the lower earnings limit, together with sections 12 and 13, which do the same in Northern Ireland. SI 2026/373. Acas records the same change from the same date. Acas on the Employment Rights Act 2025. Statutory sick pay is UK-wide. The policy and contract points below apply in England, Scotland and Wales. The full timetable is on our Employment Rights Act key dates page.

Check the payroll settings

Two things went at once. The three waiting days have gone, so statutory sick pay is payable from the first full day of sickness absence. The lower earnings limit has gone, so an employee no longer has to earn a minimum amount to qualify. Statutory sick pay changes for employers.

The rate is either £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower, and it is paid for up to 28 weeks. GOV.UK statutory sick pay employer guide. The rates and thresholds for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, updated on 1 September 2026, give the same figure. Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027.

Statutory sick pay is still paid only for qualifying days, the days the employee normally works, and only when the employee is sick for at least one full working day. A day cannot be counted as a sick day if the employee worked for a minute or more before going home sick. GOV.UK on SSP entitlement.

The government's employer guidance asks you to check with your payroll provider that the system has been updated for the waiting period and the earnings threshold, to review your sickness absence policy, and to tell managers and staff. To confirm the first: pull every sickness absence since 6 April 2026, find one that lasted two or three days, and look at what the pay run did with it. If the first qualifying day was unpaid, the setting is still wrong and there is back pay to work out. Give that check to whoever runs payroll and keep the dated note of what they found.

Work out the 80% rate for your lowest earners

This is the genuinely new work. Before April 2026 a low earner fell outside the scheme; now they are inside it, and the amount is not always the flat rate.

HMRC's guidance on calculating statutory sick pay by hand, updated on 6 April 2026, sets out the method. The relevant period runs back at least eight weeks from the last normal payday before the first complete day of sickness. For a weekly paid employee, add up all the earnings paid in that period and divide the total by 8. For a monthly paid employee, add up the earnings, divide by 2, multiply by 12 and divide by 52. Work out your employee's statutory sick pay manually.

Then compare. HMRC's own worked example takes average weekly earnings of £185: 80% of that is £148, the flat rate of £123.25 is lower, so £123.25 is the rate to pay. Where the employee works five qualifying days in a week, the daily rate is £123.25 divided by 5, which is £24.65. Where 80% of average weekly earnings comes to less than £123.25, the 80% figure is the one you pay.

For a part-time, term-time or irregular-hours employee the method is the same, but the answer moves with what was actually paid in the relevant period, so two people on the same contract can end up on different rates. The official calculator will do the arithmetic. Calculate your employee's statutory sick pay. Keep the working alongside the payslip, because it is the only thing that shows how the figure was reached.

Stop asking for a fit note for a short absence

The evidence rules did not change in April, but the money did. Because the first three days are now paid, a demand for a doctor's note before payment is no longer a delay. It withholds pay that is due.

You can only ask for a fit note if the employee is off work for more than seven days in a row, including non-working days. You cannot withhold statutory sick pay if the employee is late sending you a fit note. GOV.UK on notice and fit notes. Acas puts the fit-note point at more than seven calendar days. Acas on statutory sick pay.

On notice, the employee should tell you they are sick within the time limit you set, or within seven days if you have not set one. You cannot insist they tell you in person or on a special form.

A practical approach is a short self-certification form the employee completes on return, a policy that names day eight as the point a fit note is needed, and one line in the manager briefing: for the first week, the record of the absence is the evidence.

Bring the sick pay policy and the contract in line

If a worker is eligible for statutory sick pay, the employer must pay that as a minimum. Anything above it is company, contractual or occupational sick pay. Acas on sick pay entitlement.

That makes two older policy wordings a problem. A scheme that paid nothing for the first three days and then moved to company sick pay now falls below the statutory floor for those three days. A scheme that excluded anyone earning under the lower earnings limit now excludes people who qualify. Read your handbook against the payroll output rather than against your memory of it.

Acas also states that if company sick pay is discretionary, the employer must say so in the written statements or employment contracts. Probation periods do not affect eligibility for statutory sick pay, so a new starter who meets the conditions is entitled to it from the start.

Some long-absence rules are worth writing into the policy while you are in it. Statutory sick pay runs for a maximum of 28 weeks, and periods of sickness are linked where they last more than one full working day and fall eight weeks or less apart. Form SSP1 must go to the employee within seven days of their first day off sick if they do not qualify at all, within seven days of statutory sick pay ending if it ends unexpectedly while they are still sick, or on or before the beginning of the 23rd week if the entitlement is expected to run out before the sickness does. GOV.UK on SSP eligibility.

Decide where the sickness records live

The record-keeping duty is narrower than it used to be: the general requirement to keep sickness absence records was revoked in 2014. HMRC's manual states that regulation 13 was revoked with effect from 6 April 2014 and employers are no longer required to keep records of sickness absence. It also states that regulation 13A is still in force and an employer may be required to produce records to show that statutory sick pay has been paid. HMRC Statutory Payments Manual SPM210100. GOV.UK puts it plainly: you can choose how you keep the records, and HMRC may need to see them if there is a dispute over payment. GOV.UK on SSP entitlement.

The duty that does bite is the payroll one. Employee leave and sickness absences are named among the PAYE records an employer must keep, for three years from the end of the tax year they relate to. GOV.UK on keeping payroll records. Holiday and holiday-pay records are separate and run for at least six years from the date they were made. Acas on keeping holiday records.

Who sees them matters as much as how long you hold them. The ICO distinguishes a sickness record, which contains details of the illness or condition, from an absence record, which gives the reason as sickness or accident without naming a medical condition and is generally less intrusive. You should not make an individual's records available to others unless it is necessary for them to do their jobs, and you must not publish league tables of individual workers' sickness absence, though totals by department are acceptable where individuals are not identifiable. On lawful basis, the ICO says you can likely rely on legitimate interests or legal obligation, together with the employment law condition for processing. ICO on handling sickness and injury records. For most small employers that means the manager sees the dates, the payroll file holds the calculation, and the fit note sits somewhere only one or two people can open.

There is a reason to tidy this now. The Fair Work Agency launched on 7 April 2026 and currently covers the national minimum wage, employment agency regulation and gangmaster licensing. Enforcement of statutory holiday pay is scheduled to start in 2027, and the government states that timing is subject to the public consultation but that it will not start before April 2027. Statutory sick pay is listed as something the agency will take on over time, with no date set, and until then the government points employers with sick pay questions to Acas and advises reviewing your record-keeping policies. Government guidance on the Fair Work Agency.

Give the five checks to one person with a date: payroll settings and a test case, the 80% calculation for your lowest earners, the fit-note wording, the handbook against the statutory floor, and the records. It is an afternoon's work, and most of it is confirming that something already happened. Where a long absence turns into a question about someone's job, that is a different process: check the current Acas guidance and seek appropriate advice before acting. Our guide to putting employment changes into practice keeps the rest of the 2026 and 2027 list honest about what is in force and what is still scheduled.

Common questions

Do I have to pay statutory sick pay for the first day of sickness?

Yes, for a qualifying day. Since 6 April 2026 statutory sick pay has been payable from the first full day of sickness absence, because the three waiting days were removed by section 10 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, commenced on that date. It is still only paid for qualifying days, the days the employee normally works, and a day does not count if the employee worked for a minute or more before going home sick. Statutory sick pay changes for employers; SI 2026/373.

How do I work out 80% of average weekly earnings for statutory sick pay?

The relevant period is the eight weeks up to the last normal payday before the first complete day of sickness. For a weekly paid employee, add up the earnings paid in that period and divide by 8; for a monthly paid employee, divide by 2, multiply by 12 and divide by 52. Compare 80% of that figure with £123.25 and pay whichever is lower. Work out your employee's statutory sick pay manually; SSP calculator.

Can I withhold sick pay if an employee does not give me a fit note?

No. You can only ask for a fit note if the employee is off work for more than seven days in a row, including non-working days, and GOV.UK states that you cannot withhold statutory sick pay if the employee is late sending one. For a short absence the employee self-certifies. GOV.UK on notice and fit notes.

How long do I have to keep sickness absence records?

There is no separate statutory duty to keep sickness absence records: HMRC's manual records that regulation 13 was revoked with effect from 6 April 2014. But employee leave and sickness absences are named among the PAYE records an employer must keep for three years from the end of the tax year they relate to, and you may be required to produce records showing that statutory sick pay was paid. HMRC SPM210100; GOV.UK on keeping payroll records.