Statutory Sick Pay Changes 2026: What UK Employers Need to Know

UK workers took an average of 9.4 sick days in 2025 — the highest figure in 15 years, according to the CIPD. That level of absence is already stretching HR teams and eating into budgets. From the 6th of April 2026, paying for that absence gets more expensive too.

Three Statutory Sick Pay changes take effect on the same date under the Employment Rights Act 2025:

1. The three-day waiting period is gone. SSP is payable from day one.
2. The Lower Earnings Limit is abolished. Zero-hours and lower-paid workers now qualify.
3. A new earnings-linked calculation applies to lower earners.

If you run payroll in-house or manage absence for your business, at least one of these changes will hit your processes. This guide covers exactly what’s changing, who’s affected and what you need to update before the new tax year.

Day-one SSP defined: From the 6th of April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay is payable from the first qualifying day of sickness absence. The previous three waiting days — during which no SSP was owed — have been permanently removed under the Employment Rights Act 2025.

What’s actually changing: the three SSP changes in one place

1. The three-day waiting period is removed

Before the 6th of April 2026, SSP only kicked in from day four of a sickness absence. Days one to three were unpaid. That meant a short illness (a stomach bug, a bad back, a bout of flu) cost employees money and created a financial incentive to come in sick rather than stay home.

That changes now. SSP is payable from the very first day of absence. Even a single day off sick triggers it.

For employers, every qualifying absence now has a payroll cost attached to it, including the short ones that previously went unrecorded.

2. The Lower Earnings Limit is abolished

Previously, employees had to earn at least £125 per week to qualify for SSP. Anyone earning below that threshold such as part-timers, workers on zero-hours contracts and casual staff, got nothing.

From the 6th of April 2026, that threshold is gone. All employees qualify for SSP regardless of what they earn.

Up to 1.3 million workers gain SSP access for the first time as a result. If your business employs part-time or zero-hours staff — in retail, hospitality, social care, childcare, or any other sector — this change directly affects you.

3. A new rate applies to lower earners

The flat weekly SSP rate increases from £118.75 to £123.25 from the 6th of April 2026, a rise of £4.50 per week.

But for employees newly eligible due to the LEL removal, a different rule applies. Rather than paying the flat rate, you pay whichever is lower: £123.25 or 80% of the employee’s Average Weekly Earnings (AWE). AWE is calculated over the eight weeks before the first day of absence.

The 80% rule exists to make sure SSP doesn’t exceed what a very low earner would normally take home:

Employee’s weekly earnings	SSP payable from the 6th of April 2026
£100/week	£80 (80% of AWE — lower than £123.25)
£155/week	£123.25 (flat rate — lower than 80% of AWE, which is £124)
£200/week	£123.25 (flat rate — lower than 80% of AWE, which is £160)

For variable-hours and zero-hours workers, AWE calculations will vary week to week, so your payroll system needs to handle that correctly — more on that below.

Who qualifies for day-one SSP under the new rules?

The changes expand eligibility significantly, but it’s not a blanket entitlement. Here’s the full picture.

Who qualifies from the 6th of April 2026:

• Any employee (not self-employed) who is sick for at least one qualifying day.
• Employees at any earnings level — the LEL no longer applies.
• Part-time workers, zero-hours workers and lower-paid staff who were previously excluded.

Who remains ineligible:

• Employees who received Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) within the past 85 days.
• Self-employed workers (SSP is an employment entitlement, not a self-employment one).

Employees currently on sick leave: the transitional rules

If you have people off sick right now, the transition to the 6th of April is more complex than simply flipping a switch. HMRC and GOV.UK have issued specific guidance on how to handle absences that span the change date.

Situation	What happens from the 6th of April
Off sick before the 6th of April; not on SSP due to LEL	May now qualify from the 6th of April if still sick
Serving waiting days when the 6th of April arrives	Waiting days cancelled from the 6th of April — no backdating
Already on SSP	Paid at the new £123.25 rate from the 6th of April
Continuously absent since on or before 21 September 2025	28-week maximum still applies — not newly entitled

Take time now to check your current absence register against these rules. Employees who weren’t getting SSP before the 6th of April may have a new entitlement from that date and getting that wrong puts you immediately on the wrong side of the new enforcement regime.

Payroll compliance checklist: what to check now

The Fair Work Agency launched on the 7th of April 2026 with live enforcement powers. If your payroll has not been updated, these are the things you need to fix immediately.

Your payroll configuration

• Remove the three-day wait. Any logic in your payroll software that blocks SSP for the first three days needs to be switched off. SSP must trigger automatically from the first qualifying day.
• Remove the LEL eligibility filter. If your system automatically excludes employees earning below £125 per week, that filter is unlawful from the 6th of April.
• Set up the dual calculation. Your software needs to compare £123.25 against 80% of the employee’s AWE (calculated over the preceding eight weeks) and pay whichever is lower. For employees on variable or zero-hours contracts, the AWE calculation is not straightforward — confirm your system handles non-standard work patterns correctly.
• Switch to the updated SSP1 form. HMRC has issued a new version of the SSP1 form ahead of the 6th of April. The old version included a box for notifying employees they don’t qualify due to the LEL. That box no longer exists. Make sure you’re using the right form.
• If you use a payroll bureau or third-party provider: don’t assume the update is done. Confirm in writing that their system reflects the 6th of April changes and test it before the new tax year starts.
• Handle transitional cases manually. Employees currently on sick leave who cross the 6th of April threshold need individual review against the transitional rules above. Your payroll system won’t do this automatically.
• Enforcement from 7 April 2026: The new Fair Work Agency launches the day after the SSP changes come into effect. It has real teeth. SSP underpayment carries a penalty of 200% of the underpaid amount, capped at £20,000 per worker, with six years of back liability. Employers can also be publicly named. Getting your payroll wrong from day one is not a minor admin issue.

Your absence management processes

• Require day-one notification. With no waiting period, absence reporting needs to happen immediately. If an employee doesn’t notify on day one, you don’t know SSP has been triggered. Update your absence reporting procedure to make this explicit.
• Expect more short absences. The three-day wait acted as a financial disincentive to take short sick leave. Removing it will likely increase the frequency of one-to-three day absences. The government’s argument is that this is a good thing — people who are genuinely ill will stay home instead of coming in and spreading it. But it means your absence management processes need to be able to handle higher volume.
• Review your Bradford Factor triggers. If you use Bradford Factor scores or similar short-absence attendance policies, recalibrate them. Short absences will become more common — your trigger thresholds need to reflect the new normal, not pre-April patterns.
• Train your line managers. SSP from day one is the law. A line manager telling someone they won’t be paid for the first three days is now giving unlawful advice. Brief them before the 6th of April.

Your policies and contracts

• Update your employee handbook. Any reference to the three-day waiting period or the LEL needs to be removed. A handbook that still says “SSP is payable from day four” will create confusion and potential liability.
• Review employment contracts. Any clause that states SSP begins from day four, or that references the LEL as a qualifying condition, is unlawful from the 6th of April. Zero-hours and part-time contracts are the ones most likely to contain these unlawful exclusions — go through them now.
• Check your contractual sick pay scheme. If you offer enhanced sick pay above the statutory minimum, make sure the wording of your policy still makes sense alongside the new statutory baseline. Policies written before day-one SSP existed may contain references that no longer apply.
• Update induction and onboarding materials. New starters joining after the 6th of April need to know they have SSP from day one. Make sure that’s reflected in everything they receive at the start of employment.

The cost

The government’s average additional cost estimate is around £15 per employee per year. That figure is a national average and it understates the impact significantly in low-wage sectors. Retail, hospitality, social care and childcare employers, where a high proportion of staff are part-time or on zero-hours contracts, should model their own numbers rather than relying on the average.

One thing is confirmed: there is no government rebate. The COVID-era small employer SSP rebate scheme has not been reinstated. The full cost falls on employers.

See how Employment Hero’s payroll compliance tools handle SSP calculations automatically →

A note on the wider April 2026 day-one rights package

SSP isn’t the only right changing on the 6th of April. Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave also move to day-one entitlements from the same date.

One thing that is not changing in April 2026: day-one unfair dismissal rights. This was proposed in the original Employment Rights Bill but was dropped in November 2025 as part of the negotiations to get the Act passed. The unfair dismissal qualifying period is being cut from two years to six months, but that change doesn’t take effect until 1 January 2027.

If anyone in your business is planning their compliance calendar based on day-one unfair dismissal arriving this April, correct that now. It’s a 2027 change.

For the full ERA 2025 timeline, including everything from zero-hours contract reform to tribunal changes, see our Employment Rights Act 2025 hub.

Is your payroll compliant?

The combination of day-one eligibility and the LEL removal means SSP is no longer a niche liability. Any absence, by almost any employee, now triggers it from day one. The infrastructure — your payroll configuration, your absence reporting, your contracts, your manager training — needs to be ready before the new tax year begins.

The compliance risk if it isn’t is real and immediate.

See how Employment Hero’s payroll software handles SSP compliance automatically →