Statutory Sick Pay: What UK Employers Must Know

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is the minimum amount employers must pay eligible employees who are off sick. Under ERA 2025, SSP is now payable from day one of absence — the previous three-day waiting period has been removed. The weekly SSP rate for 2025/26 is £116.75 per week, paid for up to 28 weeks in a rolling three-year period.

Not every employee qualifies. To receive SSP, an employee must be off for at least four consecutive days (including non-working days), must have average weekly earnings above the lower earnings limit (currently £123 per week), and must notify you of their absence within the agreed timeframe. If an employee does not qualify, you must give them an SSP1 form explaining why.

Mellow's absence module tracks sick days and calculates SSP entitlement automatically. When a sickness record is created, the system checks eligibility, applies the day one rule under ERA 2025, and calculates the payable amount for the affected pay periods. Payslips reflect SSP in the correct period. The SSP1 form is generated automatically for ineligible employees.