How Statutory Sick Pay is paid

SSP is paid by your employer, not by the government, and it arrives the way your wages arrive: through payroll, on your normal payday, with income tax and National Insurance deducted. This page explains the mechanics — qualifying days, average weekly earnings, paydays, multiple jobs, and what happens to your holiday — so you can check a payslip and spot an error.

Qualifying days: the days you normally work

SSP is paid only for qualifying days — the days you normally work under your contract or agreed pattern. A Monday-to-Friday worker has 5 qualifying days a week; a weekend worker has 2; a shift worker's qualifying days follow their rota. Non-working days do not attract SSP, but they do count toward the 7-day self-certification period and toward linked-period calculations. This distinction — paid days versus counted days — is the single most common source of payslip confusion, so when you check a payment, first check which days your employer treated as qualifying days.

Average weekly earnings over 8 weeks

Your weekly SSP amount, including the 80% calculation, is based on your average weekly earnings over an 8-week period before the sickness began. Earnings include the pay your employer uses for the calculation under the SSP rules, and the GOV.UK SSP calculator applies the same method your payroll should. If you have been paid for less than 8 weeks — you started recently, or your hours were irregular — you still qualify; the average is worked out from what you were actually paid. If your pay varies week to week, as with overtime or shift allowances, the 8-week average smooths the peaks and troughs rather than using a single good or bad week.

Tax, National Insurance, and your payslip

SSP is taxable earnings and is subject to National Insurance contributions, so the net amount is lower than the gross SSP figure. Your payslip should show SSP either as its own line or within your gross pay for the period; if you cannot identify it, ask payroll for a breakdown showing qualifying days, daily rate, and gross SSP for the period. Pension contributions, student loan deductions, and attachment orders apply to SSP through payroll in the same way they apply to wages, subject to their own rules. SSP does not itself create a separate tax code.

More than one job

If you have more than one job, you may get SSP from each employer, assessed separately for each job. Your qualifying days, average weekly earnings, and daily rate are worked out per employment. You can also qualify in one job but be fit for work in another — for example, if one job is physical work you cannot do while ill and the other is office-based work you can do. Tell each employer about the absence from their job; an employer cannot refuse SSP for their job merely because you worked your other job, if the fitness question is genuinely different between the two roles.

Holiday while sick, and record-keeping

Statutory annual leave accrues while you are off sick, however long you are off, and you can take annual leave during sick leave. Your employer cannot force you to take annual leave when you are eligible for sick leave. Employers can choose how they keep sickness records, but HMRC may ask to see them in a dispute, so keep your own parallel record: dates sick, dates you notified each employer, fit-note dates, and every payslip showing SSP. If your employer stops trading, you may still have to be paid SSP, and HMRC guidance covers the position where an employer becomes insolvent — see when SSP ends.