New SSP Rules from April 2026
What Employers Need to Know
Statutory Sick Pay changed on 6 April 2026.
If you’ve seen anything about it, it probably focused on one headline. In reality, a few things have changed at the same time, and together they shift how sickness is handled more than it might first appear.
The simplest way to think about it is this:
SSP now starts earlier, applies to more people, and depends more on how your payroll is set up behind the scenes.
What’s changed and what it means for employers
There are three main changes driving everything else.
First, SSP now starts from day one. The three unpaid waiting days have been removed. If someone is off sick on a qualifying day, SSP can be payable immediately.
Second, the Lower Earnings Limit has been removed. Previously, employees had to earn above a certain threshold to qualify. That restriction is no longer there, so lower-paid employees are now included.
Third, the way SSP is calculated has changed for those lower earners.
SSP is now the lower of:
- £123.25 per week
- or 80% of the employee’s average weekly earnings
So someone earning £100 per week would receive £80, not the full SSP rate.
What this looks like in practice
The impact becomes clearer when you step away from the rules and look at real situations.
Take a typical full-time employee who is off sick for two days. Under the old system, nothing would have been paid because those days fell within the waiting period. Now, those same two days can attract SSP, assuming they fall on working days.
For a lower-paid employee, the change is different. Someone who would not have qualified before may now receive SSP, but the amount will depend on their average earnings rather than the flat weekly rate.
Short absences also matter more than they used to.
A Period of Incapacity for Work now starts from a single day, rather than four. That means more sickness cases fall into SSP, and more needs to be tracked from the outset.
What to watch out for
Most of the risk sits in the detail rather than the headline changes. For employees with regular hours, the impact is usually straightforward. For those with variable hours or less predictable working patterns, things become less clear.
SSP depends on qualifying days, which are usually the days an employee is expected to work. Where there is no clear pattern, employers need to determine these based on working history or agreed expectations. If no pattern can be established, a default approach may apply and, in practice, this can mean a midweek day, often Wednesday, is treated as a qualifying day. This can affect whether SSP is triggered, particularly for employees with variable schedules.
There is also a transition issue to be aware of. If an employee was already off sick before 6 April and remained off afterwards, that absence may need to be treated under both the old and new rules. In some cases, employees who were not previously eligible may now qualify part way through an absence, and those already receiving SSP are protected so they are not disadvantaged by the new calculation method during that same period.
This is one of those areas where it is worth checking rather than assuming the system will handle it automatically.
What employers should do now
A short review now will prevent problems later.
- Make sure SSP is being applied from day one
- Review how average weekly earnings are calculated
- Look closely at employees with variable hours
- Ensure working patterns and qualifying days are clearly defined
- Identify any absences that span the April transition
- Check that payroll systems reflect the new rules
A closer look at how this works in payroll
For those responsible for running payroll, there are a few additional points worth understanding.
The move to an 80% average weekly earnings calculation introduces more variation into SSP. This means the same absence can produce different results depending on how earnings are structured, particularly for employees with fluctuating pay.
Average weekly earnings are typically based on a reference period, and for linked absences, the first period of sickness can determine how that average is carried forward. That makes consistency important, especially where absences fall within 56 days of each other.
Qualifying days also become more important under the new rules. SSP is only payable on those days, so where working patterns are unclear, the approach used needs to be reasonable, consistent and documented. This is particularly relevant for shift workers or those without fixed schedules.
Transitional cases require the most care. Where an absence crosses 6 April 2026, payroll may need to apply both the old and new rules within the same period. Employees who were already receiving SSP before that date should not be worse off because of the new calculation method, and those who did not previously qualify may become eligible from that point onwards.
Finally, enforcement is increasing.
From 7 April 2026, the Fair Work Agency is expected to begin enforcement activity. Where SSP is underpaid, penalties can be linked to the amount underpaid, with additional financial exposure for employers who do not meet the requirements.
This makes accuracy, and the ability to explain calculations, more important than before.
Final thoughts
The new SSP rules are not complicated once understood.
What has changed is how often they apply and how much they depend on the detail behind your payroll setup.
For many businesses, the biggest risk is assuming nothing has really changed. In practice, enough has changed to make a review worthwhile.