From 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) in the UK is the lower of £123.25 a week or 80% of your average weekly earnings. Employers pay it from the first full qualifying day you are off sick, for up to 28 weeks.
From 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) in the UK is the lower of £123.25 a week or 80% of your average weekly earnings. Employers pay it from the first full qualifying day you are off sick, for up to 28 weeks. For a five-day working week the standard daily rate is £24.65. Tax and National Insurance still come off SSP like normal wages.
This guide explains who qualifies, how average weekly earnings work, and how to read the daily rate tables. Figures come from GOV.UK employer guidance for 2026/27. If you want to compare SSP with your usual net pay, use the take-home pay calculator.
Parents comparing family leave rates may also find our Statutory Maternity Pay 2026/27 guide useful.
Contents
For the tax year running from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, the weekly SSP rate is either £123.25 or 80% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. That change matters for lower-paid staff: if 80% of their usual pay sits below £123.25, they receive the lower figure rather than a flat rate that used to sit above their earnings.
| Measure | 2026/27 rule |
|---|---|
| Weekly SSP | Lower of £123.25 or 80% of average weekly earnings |
| When payment starts | First full qualifying day in a period of incapacity for work |
| Maximum duration | Up to 28 weeks |
| Daily rate (5 qualifying days) | £24.65 at the £123.25 weekly rate |
HMRC publishes unrounded daily rates for every number of qualifying days in a week, from seven days down to one. You can find the tables on the rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 page. Employers cannot pay less than SSP, but many contracts add occupational sick pay on top.
SSP is paid on the same payday pattern as wages. It counts as earnings for tax and National Insurance, so your net amount will be lower than the gross weekly or daily figure. Employers cannot recover SSP from HMRC, unlike Statutory Maternity Pay.
The headline weekly rate is a cap, not a guarantee of £123.25 for everyone. Someone whose average weekly earnings are £100 receives £80 SSP (80%), not the flat rate. Someone on £200 a week receives £123.25 because 80% of £200 is £160, which is higher than the cap.
A period of incapacity for work (PIW) is a spell of sickness lasting at least one full day. From 6 April 2026, SSP is paid from the first full working day in that PIW. There are no waiting days in the current GOV.UK manual calculation guidance for absences that follow the new rules.
You only receive SSP for qualifying days. Those are usually the days you are contracted to work. If you and your employer cannot agree the pattern, GOV.UK sets default rules, including treating Wednesday as the qualifying day when you both agree there are no working days in a week.
All calendar days of sickness count toward the length of a PIW, including weekends and bank holidays, even though SSP itself is only due on qualifying days. That distinction matters when you link separate absences later.
If a continuous absence began before 6 April 2026 and runs across the change date, employers should follow HMRC’s separate transitional guidance rather than applying the new day-one rules blindly to the whole spell. Payroll teams should flag those cases early so employees are not underpaid or overpaid across the boundary.
Part-time staff still get SSP only on their qualifying days. A three-day week does not convert into five days of SSP simply because the illness lasts a full calendar week.
To qualify, you must be classed as an employee, have done some work under your contract, and have been sick for at least one full working day. Agency workers may also qualify. You must tell your employer you cannot work by their deadline, or within seven days if they have not set one, or you risk losing some SSP.
You will not qualify if you have already received the maximum 28 weeks of SSP, if you are getting Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance, or if you are off with a pregnancy-related illness in the four weeks before the week your baby is due. Other exceptions include being in custody or on strike on the first day of sickness, working outside the EU in some cases, and recent Employment and Support Allowance claims. The overview sits on the GOV.UK Statutory Sick Pay employer guide.
If you do not qualify, or when SSP ends, your employer must send form SSP1 so you can consider Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance. They must issue SSP1 within seven days of the first day off if you never qualified, or on the timelines GOV.UK sets when SSP is ending.
You can qualify for SSP from more than one job at the same time. You might also qualify in one role and still be fit for another, for example if heavy lifting is impossible but desk work is fine. Each employer assesses their own contract.
Average weekly earnings include pay on which Class 1 National Insurance is due, or would be due if earnings were high enough. The relevant period usually ends on the last normal payday before the first complete day of sickness and must cover at least eight weeks.
For a weekly paid employee whose first full sick day was 11 June 2026 with Friday paydays, GOV.UK’s example uses pay from 11 April 2026 to 5 June 2026, then divides total pay by eight. For a monthly paid employee sick from 13 July 2026 with month-end paydays, the example uses 1 May to 30 June, divides by two, multiplies by twelve and divides by fifty-two. Do not round to whole pence while you work.
New starters without eight weeks of pay use the earnings actually paid under the contract before the first sick day, or contractual pay if nothing has been paid yet. Salary sacrifice reduces the earnings figure to the amount actually paid after the sacrifice. Mistimed holiday pay and mixed weekly and monthly patterns have their own averaging steps. The full method is on the manual SSP calculation guidance.
Because the rate is fixed at the start of a linked PIW, a pay rise that lands after sickness starts will not raise SSP until a new, unlinked absence begins. That surprises people who expect occupational schemes and SSP to move together.
When you are sick for part of a week, divide the weekly SSP due by the number of qualifying days, then multiply by the number of those days you were off. At the flat £123.25 rate with five qualifying days, the daily rate is £24.65.
| Qualifying days in week | Unrounded daily rate at £123.25 | Example: 3 days off |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | £17.6071 | £52.83 |
| 6 | £20.5416 | £61.63 |
| 5 | £24.65 | £73.95 |
| 4 | £30.8125 | £92.44 |
| 3 | £41.0833 | £123.25 |
GOV.UK’s Example 1: average weekly earnings £185. Eighty per cent is £148, so the lower weekly rate is £123.25. With five qualifying days, three days off pay £73.95. Example 3: earnings £145. Eighty per cent is £116, which is lower than £123.25, so the weekly rate is £116. With four qualifying days and two days off, SSP is £58.
Use the official SSP calculator where you can. Manual maths is mainly for linked periods or unusual pay patterns that the calculator cannot handle cleanly. Keep a note of the unrounded daily rate until the final multiplication so small rounding differences do not accumulate across a long absence.
Separate sickness spells link if each lasts at least one full working day and the gap between them is eight weeks (56 days) or less. Linked spells share one SSP assessment from the first day of the first PIW, and the rate stays the same even if pay changes later. A continuous linked series that lasts more than three years ends SSP entitlement.
You need a fit note if you are off for more than seven days in a row, including non-working days. A GP, hospital doctor, registered nurse, occupational therapist, pharmacist or physiotherapist can issue one. Some employers also accept other agreed evidence for shorter absences.
Occupational or contractual sick pay can exceed SSP, but it cannot undercut it. Check your contract. Many schemes pay full pay for a set period and then drop to SSP. Holiday entitlement keeps accruing while you are off sick, and you can take annual leave during sickness in line with GOV.UK holiday rules.
If you know an absence will last beyond 28 weeks, your employer can complete SSP1 early so you can apply for Employment and Support Allowance before SSP stops. That paperwork timing often decides whether there is a gap in income.
Tell your employer promptly, keep copies of fit notes, and check the gross SSP line on your payslip against the weekly or daily figures above. If the amount looks wrong, ask payroll to show the average weekly earnings calculation. If you still disagree, contact HMRC’s National Insurance enquiries line for employees.
Budget for the fact that SSP is usually much lower than full pay. A worker on £600 a week who receives £123.25 SSP sees a sharp drop in net income once tax and NI are applied to that smaller amount. Running your normal salary through a take-home pay calculator helps you see the gap before you rely on savings or benefits.
This article summarises GOV.UK rules checked on 18 October 2026. It is not a substitute for payroll software or advice on a disputed claim. When in doubt, ask your employer to show the calculation against HMRC’s published examples.
Employees who work irregular shift patterns should agree qualifying days in writing before a dispute arises. Hospital appointments that take a full qualifying day can count toward a PIW when you are unfit for work that day, but short outpatient visits that leave you able to work usually do not create an SSP claim on their own. Always follow your workplace reporting policy as well as the statutory minimums.
Self-employed people do not receive SSP. They need to rely on savings, income protection insurance or benefits such as Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance where eligible. That is a key difference when you compare employment and freelance risk. Limited company directors who are also employees can qualify for SSP on their PAYE salary if they meet the usual tests, but dividends are not earnings for this purpose.
Keep SSP paperwork with your P60 and payslips for the tax year. If HMRC or a benefits office asks how much you received, the gross weekly figures on your payslip and any SSP1 form are the documents that settle the question. A clear paper trail also helps if you later claim that occupational sick pay was underpaid relative to your contract.
From 6 April 2026 it is the lower of £123.25 a week or 80% of your average weekly earnings, paid for up to 28 weeks.
Yes. Under the rules that apply from 6 April 2026, SSP is paid from the first full qualifying day in a period of incapacity for work.
At the £123.25 weekly rate, the daily rate for five qualifying days is £24.65.
Yes. Employers pay SSP like wages, so income tax and National Insurance are deducted.
No. They can offer a more generous occupational scheme, but they cannot pay less than the statutory amount when you qualify.
You need a fit note if you are off sick for more than seven days in a row, including non-working days.
Your employer should give you form SSP1 within seven days of your first day off so you can consider Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance.
No. Unlike Statutory Maternity Pay, employers cannot recover Statutory Sick Pay from HMRC.
Last checked: 18 October 2026. Rates and rules can change, so confirm anything important with the official GOV.UK or NCSC source linked above.
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