Three things changed on 6 April 2026
Sections 10 to 13 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 came into force that day, commenced by SI 2026/373. Statutory sick pay changed in three ways at once:
- The three waiting days are gone. SSP is payable from the first qualifying day.
- The lower earnings limit is gone. Nobody is excluded for earning too little.
- The rate is no longer flat. SSP is the lower of 80% of average weekly earnings, or the statutory weekly rate.
The third one is why most calculators are now wrong
The first two are easy to absorb. The third changed the shape of the sum, not just a number in it.
SSP used to be a single figure. If you qualified, you got it; if you did not, you got nothing. Every calculator written before April returns that single figure, and for anybody earning under about £154 a week it is now too high.
That error runs in the worse direction. Being told you will get less than you do is a pleasant surprise. Being told you will get £123.25 when you will actually get £80 is a budget built on money that never arrives, and it is the people with the least slack who are affected, because it is exactly the low earners the change was meant to bring into the system in the first place.
So this tool asks for average weekly earnings and shows you which side of the crossover you are on, as a line you can place yourself against rather than a rule to interpret.
Qualifying days, and the part-timer surprise
SSP is paid for the days you would normally have worked. Those are your qualifying days, and the daily rate is the weekly amount divided by how many of them there are in a week.
Which produces something that looks like a bug and is not: somebody working two days a week has a higher daily rate than somebody working five. The weekly figure is the same either way, so with fewer days to spread it over, each one is worth more. Two days a week gives roughly half the weekly amount per day; five days gives a fifth.
It also means an absence that falls entirely across days you never work produces no SSP at all, and that is a real answer rather than an error. Somebody off across a weekend they do not work has lost nothing and is owed nothing.
28 weeks, and the linking rule that shortens it
SSP runs for a maximum of 28 weeks. The part people do not expect is that absences 56 days apart or less link together and share that same 28 weeks.
For somebody with a recurring condition, a series of separate absences through the year is treated as one long one, and the entitlement runs out far sooner than a straight count of the current absence would suggest. The tool has a field for weeks already paid for exactly that reason.
When it does run out, the employer issues form SSP1, which is what lets somebody claim Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance instead. That form is the handover, and missing it is what leaves somebody with nothing at all rather than something else.
Company sick pay is usually better than this
It is the statutory minimum. A contract can give more and company sick pay usually does, often full pay for a period before dropping to SSP. If there is a company scheme, that is the figure that matters and this is the floor underneath it.
It works the rules as they stand from 6 April 2026. For an absence that both started and ended before that date, the old rules apply to all of it, and the tool refuses rather than handing you a figure that is too high. For an absence that straddles the date, there are transitional rules that this does not apply, and it says so rather than quietly ignoring them.
The weekly rate changes every April. The tax year it is quoting is printed on the result, so you can see at a glance whether you are looking at a current figure.
Next to it: holiday entitlement, which sickness absence does not stop accruing, and the 52-week reference periodfor anybody on variable pay.
Common questions
How much is statutory sick pay now?
Since 6 April 2026 it is the lower of 80% of average weekly earnings or £123.25 a week. That second part is new. SSP used to be one flat figure for everybody who qualified, so any calculator that still returns a flat rate is overstating what a lower earner will actually receive.
Do I still have to wait three days for sick pay?
No. The three waiting days were removed on 6 April 2026 by the Employment Rights Act 2025. SSP is payable from the first qualifying day of the absence, so one day off on a day you normally work now produces one day of SSP where it previously produced nothing.
Do I have to earn a minimum amount to get SSP?
Not any more. The lower earnings limit was removed on the same date. Under the old rules anybody earning below it got nothing at all, which is what made part-time and low-paid work the gap in the system. They now get 80% of their average weekly earnings.
Why is my daily rate higher than someone who works five days?
Because the weekly amount is the same and there are fewer days to spread it across. SSP is paid for the days you would normally have worked, so somebody working two days a week has a daily rate of roughly half the weekly figure, while somebody on five days has a fifth of it. It looks wrong and it is correct.
How long does SSP last?
Up to 28 weeks. And absences 56 days apart or less link together and share that same 28 weeks, which is how somebody with a recurring condition runs out far sooner than they expect. When it runs out the employer issues form SSP1 so you can claim Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance instead.
What if my absence started before 6 April 2026?
There are specific transitional rules for an absence that started before that date and ran past it, and this tool does not apply them: it says so and tells you where the guidance is. For an absence that both started and finished before the change, the old rules apply to all of it and the tool refuses rather than giving you a number that is too high.