In 1st July, the Government published a roadmap comprising of policy changes to boost rights for half of all UK workers. One of the key announcements of utmost importance to the payroll industry, and in turn to every employer throughout the UK, was the policy change to SSP. These changes will be implemented from April 2026, which means ‘Up to 1.3 million working people will get access to statutory sick pay for the first time. The changes are:
* SSP will be payable from day 1.
* SSP to be paid to those earning under the lower earnings limit
SSP from day one
The first 3 waiting days of the period of incapacity to work has been abolished and so SSP will now be payable from day one of sickness. Employers will need to review the period of incapacity for work to calculate entitlement to SSP. So the PIW is not being abolished, but instead, amended, to reflect the new way of calculating SSP.
SSP paid to those earning under the LEL
SSP will be paid to those earning under the LEL, and this will be paid at 80% of an employee’s normal weekly earnings, where 80% of the normal weekly earnings is less than the flat rate of SSP. This does mean that for some employees who earn at or slightly above the LEL, they will be paid a lower weekly rate than before. The DWP stated that the balance comes from the removal of the waiting days, meaning these employees may be paid less per week, but they will be paid from the first day of absence.
