Sickness and absence

Statutory sick pay in 2026: the new rate and the day-one right

Updated 21 October 2026

You can be paid SSP from your first day of sickness absence. You can be paid it for up to 28 weeks in a period of sickness. You must be paid at least £123.25 a week, including during the first week. You do not need to build up any length of service. You do not need to earn above a minimum threshold. You are entitled to it whether you work full time, part time, or on a zero-hours contract, as long as you meet the basic qualifying conditions. The qualifying days are the days you would normally have been asked to work, and your employer works them out from your contract or your normal pattern.

What is the statutory sick pay rate from 6 October 2026

The new SSP rate, in force from 6 October 2026, is £123.25 a week. That is a 4.6 per cent increase on the previous rate of £118.75 and broadly tracks average earnings growth rather than inflation. The rate is reviewed each tax year, but the government has aligned this year's rise with the start of the SSP reforms, which is why it takes effect on 6 October rather than the April tax year start.

Daily SSP, which your employer uses when you are off for part of a week, is calculated by dividing the weekly rate by the number of qualifying days in your normal working week. For someone who normally works five days a week, that is £24.65 a day. For a three-day week, it is £41.08 a day. For a seven-day shift pattern, it is £17.61 a day.

If your contract says you are entitled to company sick pay that is more generous than SSP, your employer still has to pay at least SSP in the first place, and can then top it up from day one, day four, or whenever the scheme kicks in. The new law does not stop employers from running more generous occupational schemes; it sets a floor, not a ceiling.

Statutory sick pay counts as earnings for tax and for National Insurance purposes, and your employer should run it through PAYE in the usual way. It also counts as pay when calculating holiday accrual, which is useful when you are off sick for a long stretch.

Who qualifies for SSP in October 2026

To qualify for SSP in the 2026/27 scheme, you need four things to be true:

• You are classed as an employee. Self-employed people, directors with less than a 5 per cent shareholding who do not have a contract of employment, and genuinely voluntary workers are not covered.
• You have been absent from work for four or more consecutive qualifying days. That is the basic 'period of incapacity for work' (PIW) test, and the four days do not all have to fall in the same week.
• You have told your employer you are sick, in line with whatever reasonable notification procedure they have. From 6 October 2026, you also no longer need to provide a fit note for the first 28 weeks of a period of sickness unless your employer specifically asks for one.
• You earn at least the lower earnings limit, which is the old-style earnings test. From 6 October 2026, this test is removed, so workers who earned less than £125 a week in 2025/26 now qualify as well.

The removal of the lower earnings limit is the second reform, alongside the day-one rule, that you are likely to feel in practice. The Office for National Statistics has historically estimated that around one in twenty workers fell below the lower earnings limit at any one time, and a meaningful share of those worked part-time hours or had variable pay. They are now entitled to SSP, which closes a long-standing gap where low-paid workers could be ill but not eligible for any statutory pay at all.

You are not entitled to SSP if you are claiming Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay, or Statutory Paternity Pay for the same period, because those schemes cover different reasons for absence. If you are off work with a work-related injury and you are receiving Industrial Injuries Benefit, the overlap is limited and SSP may still be the first port of call, with the Department for Work and Pensions sorting out the rest.

When does SSP start and how long does it last

Under the new rules, SSP is payable from your first qualifying day of sickness. The old three waiting days are removed from 6 October 2026.

The maximum period of SSP in a single PIW is 28 weeks. After that, SSP stops, although a new PIW can start if you have been back at work for more than eight weeks and then fall ill again. The eight-week rule is a back-stop, not a target: it exists to stop employers counting separate short absences as a continuous period of sickness.

If you are off sick with a serious health condition and SSP runs out before you are well enough to return, your employer should write to you at least four weeks before SSP ends, telling you when it will stop and what the next steps are. In practice, that means a fit-for-work conversation, a referral to occupational health, or a discussion about whether your role is still suitable. The fit note itself can be used by your employer as evidence that you are not fit for work, but it cannot be used to force you to return early.

For employees who are pregnant, the rules interact with maternity leave. If you are off sick with a pregnancy-related reason in the four weeks before your expected week of childbirth, your employer can start your maternity leave automatically. SSP continues to run alongside the qualifying weeks for Statutory Maternity Pay, so the change in reason does not cut your pay off.

SSP, fit notes, and evidence of sickness

For the first 28 weeks of a period of sickness, your employer cannot require a fit note as standard. They can ask for one if they have reasonable grounds to doubt your absence, and they can ask for one at any point if your absence becomes long-term or if there is a specific reason to verify the reason for absence. The change brings SSP evidence rules broadly into line with the rules for claiming Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance.

If you do need a fit note, you can get one from your GP, from a hospital doctor, or from a regulated occupational health professional. The rules around who can sign them have been widening over recent years, and the digital fit note has been the default since 2023, so most employees will receive a PDF or NHS App notification rather than a paper slip.

If you cannot get a fit note quickly because of NHS delays, tell your employer and ask for a short extension. Most employers will treat a confirmed GP appointment as enough evidence in the meantime. If your employer unreasonably refuses SSP because you do not have a fit note in the first 28 weeks, that is potentially an unlawful deduction from wages, and you can challenge it through your payslip, through a written grievance, and ultimately through an employment tribunal within three months of the deduction.

SSP for part-time, zero-hours, and agency workers

SSP works the same way for part-time, zero-hours, and agency workers as it does for full-time staff, as long as you are an employee. The new lower earnings limit removal is particularly important for low-paid part-time workers who would not previously have qualified.

For zero-hours workers, the qualifying days are worked out from your normal working pattern, which usually means the days you have worked in the previous eight weeks. If your pattern has changed a lot, your employer should look at the most recent period that reflects what they reasonably expect your working week to look like. If they have a fixed rota, the rota is the answer.

For agency workers, the agency is the employer for SSP purposes, not the end client, because the agency is the one paying you. If the agency tries to tell you that the client will not cover your absence, or that the client ended the assignment, that does not change their SSP obligation. You should still notify the agency in the usual way, ask for SSP in writing, and keep copies of any messages and payslips.

What to do if your employer refuses or under-pays SSP

If your employer refuses to pay SSP, pays you less than £123.25 a week for the period from 6 October 2026, or tries to impose a waiting period, you have four practical steps.

1. Ask for an itemised written statement of how your SSP has been calculated. Your employer has to provide this within 14 days of a written request, under the Employment Rights Act 1996.
2. Write a short, factual letter setting out what you believe you are owed, citing the rate and the day-one right, and asking for the shortfall to be corrected in the next pay run. Keep it polite and date-stamped.
3. Use the internal grievance procedure if the first letter does not get a response within a week. Most SSP disputes are about the calculation rather than bad faith, and a clear written exchange usually settles it.
4. If the dispute is not resolved, you can bring a claim to an employment tribunal for an unlawful deduction from wages. The time limit is three months minus one day from the date of the deduction, and the claim can cover the full 28-week period.

You can also ask HM Revenue and Customs to look at the SSP record, because employers are required to keep SSP records for at least three years. HMRC can order back-payments and issue penalties for non-payment, although in practice the tribunal route is usually faster and more focused on what you are individually owed.

Finally, if your employer is repeatedly failing to pay SSP across a workforce, you can raise a 'failure to pay' complaint with the Director of Labour Market Enforcement, who can refer cases to HM Revenue and Customs or to a relevant enforcement body. This is the route that has been used in the past to take on national employers who systematically under-paid SSP to large groups of staff.

What to do in the meantime

Tell your employer on your first day of sickness, in the way your contract or staff handbook asks you to. Keep a copy of the message, the date, and the time.

Ask, in writing, for an itemised breakdown of how your SSP is calculated, including the daily rate, the qualifying days, and the start and end dates. If anything is missing or wrong, set it out in a single short email and ask for it to be corrected in the next pay run.

If you are off for more than a week, keep notes of any conversations about your return, any fit note discussions, and any references to capability or attendance procedures. SSP is a day-one right, but the way your employer handles long-term absence is a separate question, and the evidence you keep now may matter later.

Finally, check your payslip when SSP is paid. The rate should be at least £123.25 a week from 6 October 2026, with no waiting days, and you should not see SSP running at less than the statutory daily amount for your pattern of work. If something does not line up, raise it the same week rather than letting it ride.