SSP vs company sick pay
SSP is the legal floor. Company sick pay — also called contractual or occupational sick pay — is whatever extra your employment contract promises. You cannot be paid less than SSP, and you can be paid more if your contract says so. The confusion usually lies in whether the two amounts add together. Usually, they do not: company sick pay normally includes SSP, rather than sitting on top of it.
The floor and the contract
SSP: set by law, paid by your employer, at most £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, for up to 28 weeks. Company sick pay: set by your contract, often full pay for a set number of weeks, then half pay, then SSP only. Your contract decides the extra; the law decides the floor.
What a typical company scheme looks like
A common scheme in a large UK employer — a council, a bank, a supermarket chain — pays full contractual pay for a number of weeks that grows with service, then half pay for a further period, then SSP only. A typical example: six months' full pay and six months' half pay after five years' service, with SSP included within those amounts rather than added to them. Smaller employers often offer SSP only, which is lawful: there is no legal duty to offer company sick pay at all. Self-employed contractors and agency arrangements without a contractual sick-pay clause likewise receive SSP only, if they qualify for SSP.
Is company sick pay on top of SSP?
Read your contract and staff handbook, because the answer is contractual, not statutory. Most contracts express sick pay as a total amount — "full pay" means your normal pay, and SSP forms part of it, with the employer paying the balance. A contract that genuinely promised full pay plus SSP would be unusual, and payroll would show it expressly. If your payslip during sickness shows only the SSP amount and your contract promises full pay, raise it with payroll in writing: either the contractual element is missing, or your contract's sick-pay clause has a service threshold, waiting period, or discretionary element you have not noticed. Discretionary schemes — "the company may pay" rather than "the company will pay" — are enforceable only within their own terms, so the exact wording matters.
What company schemes can and cannot do
A company scheme cannot pay less than SSP for a qualifying employee, and it must be included in the employment contract to be a contractual entitlement. A scheme can require evidence beyond the SSP minimum, can set its own notification rules, and can link entitlement to service length — but those extra conditions govern the contractual extra, not the statutory floor. An employer cannot use a missed contractual deadline to withhold SSP itself, except within the SSP notice rules explained in who qualifies. If a scheme is discretionary, ask for the scheme rules in writing before you rely on them for budgeting during a long absence.
Can employers reclaim SSP?
For most employers today, no. The old Percentage Threshold Scheme, under which small employers could reclaim some SSP, ended in April 2014, and there is no general reclaim route now: SSP is an employer cost, like wages. The exception is insolvency: if your employer becomes insolvent, HMRC pays SSP for any employee who continues to work for the employer and was sick when the employer became insolvent. Employees in that position should contact the HMRC Statutory Payment Disputes Team. If an employer tells you they cannot pay SSP because they cannot reclaim it, that is not a valid reason to refuse payment.
Which one applies to you?
Check three documents in this order: your employment contract's sick-pay clause, your staff handbook's sickness policy, and your offer letter. If none mentions sick pay beyond the statutory minimum, you are on SSP only. If your contract promises more, note the service thresholds, the full-pay and half-pay periods, and any requirement to consent to medical reporting. And remember that company sick pay, like SSP, is paid through payroll with tax and National Insurance deducted.