Statutory sick pay from day one, explained
Updated August 6, 2026
Statutory sick pay is being reformed so it starts from your first day off sick instead of your fourth, and it drops the minimum earnings rule that currently shuts the lowest-paid workers out of it altogether.
Two SSP rules are changing
Two separate rules inside statutory sick pay (SSP) are being reformed under the Employment Rights Act 2025, which received royal assent on 18 December 2025. The first is the waiting days rule. The second is the earnings threshold. Both currently reduce who gets paid, and when. The reform tackles each one directly.
This isn't a change to the idea of SSP itself. It's still a flat weekly payment from your employer while you're off sick, not full pay, and it still needs a doctor's note or self-certification depending on how long you've been off. What changes is the mechanics around who qualifies and how quickly the money starts.
The three unpaid days are going
Under the current rules, the first three days of a period of sickness are called waiting days. They're unpaid. SSP only kicks in from day four onwards, assuming you're still off. If you're back at work within those three days, you get nothing from SSP at all for that spell of illness, only whatever your employer's own sick pay scheme provides, if it has one.
The reform removes the waiting days rule. Once it's in force, SSP is payable from day one of a qualifying sickness absence, not day four. For someone who's regularly off for a day or two at a time, that's the difference between routinely getting nothing and routinely getting paid.
The earnings threshold is going too
The second change matters just as much, arguably more, for the lowest earners. Right now, to qualify for SSP at all you need to earn at least the Lower Earnings Limit, a weekly earnings threshold averaged over a set reference period. Fall below it and you're not just getting a smaller payment, you get no SSP whatsoever, however long you're off sick.
That rule has always hit part-time workers and people with multiple small jobs hardest, since it's easy to sit under the threshold in any single job even while working plenty of hours overall. The reform removes the Lower Earnings Limit requirement, so eligibility no longer depends on clearing that bar.
| Rule | Before the reform | After the reform |
|---|---|---|
| When payment starts | Day 4 of sickness absence (first 3 waiting days unpaid) | Day 1 of sickness absence |
| Minimum earnings to qualify | Must earn at least the Lower Earnings Limit | No Lower Earnings Limit requirement |
| Weekly rate | Set flat rate, check gov.uk for the current figure | Check gov.uk, the reform changes eligibility and timing, not necessarily the rate itself |
| Who's covered | Employees earning above the Lower Earnings Limit | Wider group of low earners, confirm the final detail on gov.uk |
I'm deliberately not putting a number on the current weekly SSP rate here. It's reviewed and can change, and quoting a figure that's gone stale by the time you read this would do you no favours. Check the current rate on gov.uk before you rely on it for anything, like budgeting for a period off work.
What this means if you're off sick
If you're a low earner who's previously got nothing from SSP because your pay sat under the earnings threshold, this reform is what brings you into the system for the first time. If you're someone who's regularly off for short spells, losing the first three days each time, day-one payment closes that gap.
None of this touches contractual sick pay. Plenty of employers pay more than the statutory minimum, sometimes full pay for a set number of weeks, under their own scheme. SSP is the floor, not the ceiling. Always check your contract or staff handbook first, since a better company scheme simply overrides the statutory rules in your favour.
It's also worth being clear that SSP eligibility rules are a separate question from maternity leave, which is a day-one right regardless of service length, though statutory maternity pay has its own separate qualifying conditions. Don't assume rules from one area of sick or family leave carry across to another.
When does this take effect
This is the part I'll hedge on deliberately. The Employment Rights Act 2025 commences in stages rather than all at once, and different provisions have different start dates, some already in force, some not. I'm not going to state a specific commencement date for the SSP changes with confidence here, because getting that wrong is worse than saying plainly that you need to check. Our timeline of what's changed under the Employment Rights Act tracks commencement dates as they're confirmed, so check there for the current position before you assume the day-one rule already applies to you.
If a dismissal happens around the same time as a sickness absence dispute, for example if you're pushed out while off sick and think it's linked to raising a grievance about it, the clock for bringing a tribunal claim runs separately from any of this. Our tribunal deadline calculator works out your actual limitation date, including the extended time limits and the effect of Acas early conciliation, which is worth knowing regardless of where the SSP reform has got to.
What to do next
Open your contract or staff handbook now and check whether your employer already offers company sick pay above the statutory minimum, since that answer matters more to your actual pay packet than the reform's start date does, then check gov.uk directly for the current SSP weekly rate and the confirmed commencement date for the day-one change before you plan a period off around it.