SSP examples from 6 April 2026

From 6 April 2026, the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) rules change (as per the Employment Rights Act 2025). The changes are as follows:

• SSP will be payable from day one. Previously, employees must wait for three unpaid “waiting days” before SSP is paid. From 6 April 2026 waiting days will be abolished, and SSP will be payable from the first full day of sickness absence.
• Removal of the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) qualifying rule. Previously, employees must earn at least £125 per week (2025/26) to qualify for SSP. From 6 April 2026 the LEL rule will be abolished, and all employees, regardless of income level, will be eligible for SSP.
• New SSP calculation. From 6 April 2026 SSP will be calculated as either 80% of an employee’s average weekly earnings or £123.25 per week, whichever is the lowest.

Payroll Manager has been updated to apply these new rules automatically from 6 April 2026. A guide to processing SSP within the software from 6 April 2026 can be found in the guide SSP for 6 April 2026

This page shows some examples of how the new rules will work in practice, with the main focus being the transition from the ‘old’ (pre April 2026) rules to the ‘new’ (6 April 2026) rules, as introduced in the Employment Rights Act (2025).

The examples are split into 4 sections:

• Section 1 shows how scrapping of the ‘waiting days’ rule affects the calculation of SSP.
• Section 2 gives examples of how the ‘Average Weekly Earnings’ calculations are applied when there are ‘linked’ periods of sickness (i.e. those with a gap of less than 8 weeks).
• Section 3 shows an example of how rounding rules apply to the calculation of SSP.
• Section 4 gives examples of ‘Transitional protection’. This policy is designed to protect employees from suffering a drop in the level of SSP if they have a paid period of sickness that begins in the 2025/26 tax year and continues into the 2026/27 tax year.

1) Examples for Employees who, prior to the amendments by the Employment Rights Act (2025), would have been serving waiting days on 6 April 2026 

Background: Prior to the rule changes in 6 April 2026, an employee would only be paid SSP from their 4th continuous qualifying day of sickness – with the three preceeding days classed as ‘waiting days’. This rule has been scrapped from 6 April 2026 onwards, so the employee becomes eligible for SSP from their first day of sickness.

Example: Samira earns £135 per week and goes off sick on 5 April 2026. 5 April 2026 is Day 1 of her SSP waiting days. She will be paid 80% of her average weekly earnings (because this is lower than the flat rate) from 6 April 2026 as waiting days no longer apply. SSP is therefore payable from Day 2 of her sickness absence until she returns to work, or her period of entitlement (e.g. 28 weeks) ends.

Samira will not be transitionally protected because she was not in receipt of SSP prior to 6 April because she was serving waiting days.

 

	SSP Rate from 6 April 2026
Before 6 April 2026	Transitional protection at new 2026/27 SSP rate)	Any sickness taken 6 April 2026 onwards
£0 as she serves 1 waiting day on 5 April 2026	N/A	£108.00 (i.e. 80% of earnings)

 

 

Example: Samantha earns £200 per week and goes off sick on the 5 April 2026. 5 April 2026 is Day 1 of her SSP waiting days. She will receive the flat rate of SSP from 6 April 2026 (because this is lower than 80% of her average weekly earnings) as waiting days no longer apply. She will be paid SSP from Day 2 of sickness absence until she returns to work, or her period of entitlement (e.g. 28 weeks) ends.

	SSP Rate from 6 April 2026
Before 6 April 2026	Transitional protection at new 2026/27 SSP rate)	Any sickness taken 6 April 2026 onwards
£0 as she serves 1 waiting day on 5 April 2026	N/A	£123.25 (i.e. the flat rate as this is lower that 80% of her earnings)

 

2) Examples of calculating 80% of average weekly earnings and the application of linking periods

If the gap between two subsequent periods of sickness for an employee is less than 8 weeks, then these two periods of sickness are classed as being ‘linked’. If a period of sickness is linked to a previous period of sickness in this way, then it is the average weekly earnings calculation for the first period of sickness that determines the amount of SSP to pay in the second period of sickness.

Example: Amina earns £140 per week and goes off sick on 13 of April 2026.  Her AWE is £140pw in the 8-week relevant period and her SSP rate will be £112 per week (80% of her average weekly earnings). She returns to work on 4 May 2026 for two weeks then goes off sick again on 18 May 2026 for a further two weeks. Because the gap between the two sickness periods is less than 56 days, the two spells of sickness link and are treated as one continuous ‘Period of Incapacity for Work’ (PIW).

During her second spell of illness, rather than being paid 80% of her average earnings for the 8-week period before 18 May 2026, her entitlement remains the same as that calculated for her initial period of sickness (i.e. £112 per week).  This is because where PIWs are linked, the first PIW should be used for the purposes of calculating average weekly earnings.

	SSP Rate from 6 April 2026
Before 6 April 2026	Transitional protection at new 2026/27 SSP rate)	Rate for sickness taken 13 April and 18 May 2026
N/A	N/A -as not in receipt of SSP on 5 April	£112 (i.e. 80% of her earnings) N.B. This amount will remain the same for any illness taken throughout the linked periods (i.e. any sickness absence taken less than 56 days apart)

 

 

Example: Ellis went off sick on 4 May 2026 for four days. His average weekly earnings over the 8‑week relevant period are £135pw, so his rate of SSP is £108 per week (80% of his average weekly earnings £135pw).  Later that month Ellis receives a pay increase, raising his average weekly earnings to £165 per week. He then goes off sick again on 8 June 2026 for five days. Because the gap between the two sickness periods is less than 56 days, the two spells of sickness link and are treated as one continuous PIW.

During his second spell of illness, rather than being paid 80% of his average earnings for the 8-week period before 8 June 2026, his entitlement remains the same as that calculated for his initial period of sickness (i.e. £108 per week), even though his earnings have since increased.

Ellis returns to work on 15 June 2026. On 20 November 2026 he goes off sick again. This time he has broken the 8 week linking period.  As his average earnings in the relevant period prior to 20 November 2026 are £165 per week, his SSP rate during his November sickness absence is the SSP flat rate of £123.25 (i.e.the lower of £123.25 and £132.00 (80% of £165)).

	SSP Rate from 6 April 2026
Before 6 April 2026	Transitional protection at new 2026/27 SSP rate)	Sickness taken 4 May 2026 onwards during a linked period	Any sickness taken after the linked period has been broken
N/A	N/A	£108 (i.e. 80% of earnings) N.B. This amount will remain the same for any illness taken throughout the linked periods (i.e. any sickness absence taken less than 56 days apart)	£123.25 (i.e. the flat rate as this is lower than 80% of earnings

 

3) Examples of how rounding rules apply to the payment of SSP

Example: Christopher works 5 days a week but his earnings vary depending on the hours he works. He went off sick on 11 May 2026 for 4 days. His average weekly earnings in the relevant period and SSP rate is calculated as follows:

• Average weekly earnings in relevant period = £1,090.62 / 8 = £136.3275 (unrounded)
• 80% of £136.3275 = £109.062 (unrounded)
• Qualifying days per week = 5 days
• £109.062 / 5 = £21.8124 (unrounded)
• Sickness days to be paid = 4
• 4 x £21.8124 = £87.2496 (unrounded)
• SSP payable (rounded up to nearest penny) = £87.25

4) Examples of  SSP ‘Transitional Protections’

Transitional Protections apply to those employees in receipt of SSP prior to 6 April 2026 who are still off sick and continuing on SSP on 6 April 2026. These protections specifically apply to those employees whose average weekly earnings were between £125.00 and £154.05 in 2025-26, and allow such employees to receive SSP at the £123.25 rate from 6 April 2026 until their continuous period of sickness ends. This measure protects them against a potential drop in the level of SSP that they would otherwise receive (as a result of the new ‘80%’ rule).

Example: Joan earns £125 per week.  She is off work sick before 6 April 2026 and is in receipt of SSP and she returns to work on 8 April 2026. Her SSP rate would be:

	SSP Rate from 6 April 2026
Before 6 April 2026	Transitional protection at new 2026/27 SSP rate)	Any sickness taken 9 April 2026 onwards (i.e. if she goes off sick again even within a linked period)
£118.75	£123.25 until 7 April 2026	£100 (i.e. 80% of earnings)

 

 

Example: Clare, like Joan, earns £125 per week. She was off sick but returned to work on 4 April 2026. She therefore has no transitional protection because she wouldn’t see a drop in SSP income on 6 April 2026, and her sickness did not continue into the new tax year. Her SSP rate would be:

	SSP Rate from 6 April 2026
Before 6 April 2026	Transitional protection at new 2026/27 SSP rate)	Any sickness taken 6 April 2026 onwards (even though it’s in a linked period)
£118.75	N/A	£100 (i.e. 80% of earnings)

 

 

Example: Mary earns £148 per week. She is also off work sick before 6 April 2026 and comes back to work on 8 May 2026. Her SSP rate would be:

	SSP Rate from 6 April 2026
Before 6 April 2026	Transitional protection at new 2026/27 SSP rate)	Any sickness taken 9 May 2026 onwards (i.e. if she goes off sick again even if in a linked period)
£118.75	£123.25 until 7 May 2026	£118.40 (i.e. 80% of earnings)

 

 

Example: Ahmad earns £150 per week, he is off work sick before 6 April 2026 and is in receipt of SSP, he returns to work on 17 April 2026. He would be transitionally protected because he would see his SSP rate increase to £123.25 in line with standard uprating procedure during this sickness absence. Once he returns to work, for any further sickness absence he will then receive 80% of his average weekly earnings. His SSP Rate would be:

	SSP Rate from 6 April 2026
Before 6 April 2026	Transitional protection at new 2026/27 SSP rate)	Any sickness taken 18 April 2026 onwards
£118.75	£123.25 until 16 April 2026	£120.00 (i.e. 80% of earnings)

 

 

Example: Sarah earns £240 per week. She would not be transitionally protected because she would see no drop in SSP rate regardless of whether she was off sick or not before 6 April 2026. She would receive the SSP flat rate. Her SSP rate would be:

	SSP Rate from 6 April 2026
Before 6 April 2026	Transitional protection at new 2026/27 SSP rate)	Any sickness taken 6 April 2026 onwards
£118.75	N/A	£123.25