Has Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) changed?

A number of articles published via a news agencies and news outlets have implied that there were significant changes to the UK statutory sickness scheme from April 2025. However, this is not the case.

Period of Incapacity to Work (PIW)

Under current rules which continue, only periods of sickness lasting 4 or more calendar days are considered for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) purposes, this has not changed yet.

Under revisions which form part of the new Employment Right Bill, at a point yet to be announced, SSP will apply to the first full day of sickness. The 4 day PIW concept ends at that future date point.

Qualifying Days

Qualifying days for SSP are usually an employees working days. By regulation there must be at least 1 day a week identified as a qualifying day. By default where the employer has not chosen a day, that day is Wednesday. That day applies at least to those workers who have not worked any day that week.

Under the new regulations when coming into force at a future point in time, this concept of qualifying days does not change. SSP is due for qualifying days.

Waiting Days

Currently SSP is not due for payment for the first 3 Qualifying Days of absence for a period of sickness or linked sickness (a further PIW that occurs within 56 days or a prior sickness absence).

So where there has been no prior sickness PIW fur 56 days, for the first 3 qualifying days the worker is not entitled to any payment of SSP.

This will change at a future point to be announced when SSP will be due for the first full qualifying day of sickness.

Lower Earnings Threshold to qualify

Under current SSP rules, for a worker to qualify for SSP, their earnings need to be at a rate of £125 (since 6th April 2025) or more per week. If they earn less or would have earned less if they had worked and been paid, then they do not qualify for SSP.

Under the new proposed regulations which are to be applied from April 2026 this Lower Earnings Threshold is removed and all will qualify for SSP at a future point in time to yet be confirmed.

Length of Service qualification

There is no length of service qualification for SSP, no requirement to have completed probation or to fulfill a period of service, the only requirement is that the worker had at least undertaken some actual work time.

So for a worker to qualify they do need to have started the job. Those that have been offered a position but do not turn up to undertake any work do not qualify for SSP even if they are genuinely sick.

How much is SSP now?

SSP is currently based on a weekly payment rate of £118.75, so there is a dependency on how many qualifying days there are in the relevant week where the worker is absent and for how many they are sick.

Weekly SSP rates are:

For daily rates the following outlines the rate of SSP due based on the number of qualifying days in a week and the number of sickness days absence to be paid for that week:

How much will SSP be in the future?

The new changes proposed by the Employment Rights Act brings in rights to SSP from the first full day of sickness absence is to be introduced from April 2026 with a payment to be based on 80% of the workers average earnings subject to an upper weekly SSP cap to be announced when introduced.

So what will the future SSP be like?

When the changes to SSP are introduced from April 2026, the following are likely to be confirmed:

• The 4 day PIW is removed, SSP is due from the first full working day of sickness absence
• The waiting days are removed, SSP is due from the first full working day of sickness absence
• The Lower Earnings threshold is removed, all workers will qualify no matter their earnings level
• Although the weekly SSP payment cap will apply, a new 80% of average earnings rate will apply for those whose earnings are lower to facilitate SSP for all workers no matter their earnings level.

So when do these new changes to SSP start?

These changes do not apply from 6th April 2025 as some news agencies had implied and as published by some news outlets, they government confirmed the roadmap with change applicable from April 2026.

There is no change to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) yet and not before 6th April 2026! The only change from this 5th April 2025 was the increase to the earnings threshold to now be £125 per week.

For the changes applicable from 6th April 2026 see our resources at:

PAYadvice.UK 13/4/2025 updated 26/3/2026