Who qualifies for Statutory Sick Pay
SSP has a short eligibility test, and since 6 April 2026 it is shorter than it used to be. You qualify if you meet all three of these conditions: you are classed as an employee, you have done some work for your employer, and you have been sick for at least one full working day. There is no earnings test and no four-day test any more. This page works through each condition, the notice rule, and the exceptions.
The test, in full
Employee status + some work done + at least one full working day of sickness + notice given on time + proof when required. Miss one and SSP can be refused or reduced for the days affected — but a refusal must come with form SSP1 and a reason you can challenge.
1. You must be classed as an employee
SSP is for employees: people with an employment contract who work under their employer's direction. Fixed-term employees qualify, part-time employees qualify, and agency workers may qualify — see agency and zero-hours workers for the detail. Genuinely self-employed people, freelancers, and contractors running their own business do not qualify, because they have no employer to pay SSP. If your status is disputed — for example, you are called self-employed on paper but work set shifts under a manager's control — your employment status for tax and employment law is what counts, and HMRC can decide a dispute.
2. You must have done some work for your employer
You must have actually started the job and done some work under your contract. There is no minimum length of service: someone who falls ill in their first week can qualify, provided they have done some work and meet the other conditions. You can also qualify if you have been paid for less than 8 weeks; your employer works out your average weekly earnings from what you have actually been paid, rather than refusing you for a short record.
3. You must be sick for at least one full working day
A day counts as a sick day only if it is a day you normally work — a qualifying day — and you are sick for the whole of it. If you work for a minute or more before going home sick, that day does not count. If your shift ends the day after it started and you become sick during that shift or after it ends, you are not eligible for SSP for that shift. This is the current form of what used to be called a period of incapacity for work. Before 6 April 2026 the period had to last 4 consecutive days, including non-working days; that four-day rule is superseded and no longer applies.
Telling your employer in time
You must tell your employer you cannot work by the deadline they set, or within 7 days if they have not set one. Your employer cannot insist you tell them in person or on a special form. If you tell them late without a good reason, they do not have to pay SSP for the days you were late telling them. Example from GOV.UK: an employee sick from Monday 2 June, working Monday to Friday, with a 5-day notice limit, who only reports on Monday 9 June, is not paid for the 2 days of late notice; SSP starts on Monday 9 June, the first qualifying day after they reported. If you have a good reason for delay — you were in hospital, for instance — raise it, because late-notice deductions are meant to reflect fault, not bad luck.
Who does not qualify
You do not qualify if you have already received the maximum 28 weeks of SSP; if you are getting Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance (with special rules for pregnant employees not receiving those payments); if you are off for a pregnancy-related illness in the 4 weeks before the week, Sunday to Saturday, in which your baby is due; if you were in custody or on strike on the first day of sickness, including any linked periods; if you are working outside the European Union and your employer is not liable for your National Insurance contributions; or if you received Employment and Support Allowance within 12 weeks of starting or returning to work for that employer. If any of these applies, your employer must send you form SSP1 within 7 days of your first day off sick.
Working in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland
SSP is a UK-wide statutory payment administered through payroll and HMRC, so the core rules in this guide apply across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Fit notes can be issued by the same range of healthcare professionals across the UK. If you live in one nation and work in another, your employer's payroll location does not change your SSP entitlement; what matters is your employment contract and your qualifying days.