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Calculating and recovering Statutory Sick Pay

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is paid to employees who are unable to work because of illness. As an employer you're responsible for paying SSP to employees who meet certain ‘qualifying conditions’.

You can use our free SSP calculators to calculate how much to pay an employee - and to see if you can recover any SSP. These are available on the Employer CD-Rom we send you and on our website and you can use them in conjunction with either the P11 Calculator tool on the Employer CD-Rom, commercial payroll software (if SSP isn’t built in already) or the paper form P11.

Alternatively you can work also out SSP manually, but we recommend using the calculators as they will save you time and help reduce error.

On this page:

Information you'll need when you work out SSP

Before you can work out how much SSP to pay you'll need:

  • the date of your employee's first full day of sick leave
  • the date your employee first told you they'd be off sick
  • the date of your employee's last day of sick leave - if it's ended
  • medical evidence for any sick leave that lasted more than seven days
  • full details of any sick leave the employee had that ended during the 57 days before the current sick leave started - and the number of weeks and days you paid SSP for
  • details of your employee's gross earnings during a period of at least eight weeks just before they were first absent – unless they've had a previous period of sick leave (see above) or they're a new employee
  • the days that you and your employee agree are 'qualifying days' - normal working days - for SSP
  • if your employee has one, form SSP1(L) from a previous employer or a 'linking letter' from the Department for Work and Pensions (a BF220, BF220A, BF220B or BF220C letter)

If you and your employee haven't agreed on their normal working days take whichever days they're contracted to work for you. If they don't have a contract, take the days on which they normally work.

You'll need the above information whatever method you use to work out SSP.

Information you'll need to work out if you can recover SSP

If you have a high proportion of your workforce off sick at the same time you may be able to recover some or all of the SSP you pay.

To work out if you can recover any SSP, you'll need details of:

  • all the SSP you paid to your employees in the tax month - or months - for which you want to try to recover SSP
  • the total amount of Class 1 National Insurance contributions (NICs) you paid in each of the tax months for which you want to try to recover SSP

You can't automatically recover SSP. You can only recover any SSP you've paid in a tax month that's over and above 13 per cent of your Class 1 NICs liability for that month. This is known as the 'Percentage Threshold Scheme' (PTS).

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Calculating and recovering SSP using the SSP calculator

There are two SSP calculators – one for working out how much SSP to pay and one for checking if you can recover any SSP from us. You’ll find both of these on the Employer CD-Rom we send you and on our website.

The calculator for working out SSP on the Employer CD-Rom gives you full guidance and includes links to helpbook E14, 'What to do if your employee is sick'. Check you're using the most up to date version.

The online SSP calculator asks more questions than the CD-Rom version and can help you confirm that an employee's eligible for SSP.

Both versions give you weekly breakdowns of the SSP payable and tell you how many 'waiting days' have passed (days on which the employee would normally have worked but was off sick – you can only start paying SSP after three waiting days have passed).

Once you know the SSP figure, you'll need to record what you pay on the employee's P11 Deductions Working Sheet or equivalent – either using the P11 Calculator tool on the Employer CD-Rom if you keep electronic records (recommended) or by adding the figures onto a paper P11.

If you use commercial payroll software that doesn't have a built-in SSP calculator, you can use also our SSP calculator and then put the figures into the software.

If you’re due a recovery the P11 Calculator (or your payroll software, if relevant) will automatically work this out and take it into account when working out your monthly or quarterly payment to HMRC.

Where you will have insufficient money to recover the payments from the next payment due or there are no further payments due in the tax year, please contact your Accounts Office to request the balance.

Use the online SSP calculator to work out how much SSP to pay

Use the online SSP calculator to see if you can make an SSP recovery

Read about how to record payments and deductions on form P11

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Calculating SSP manually

To work how much SSP to pay manually, you'll need to:

  • decide if there's a 'period of incapacity for work' (PIW) - and if it's linked to an earlier PIW
  • work out the number of qualifying days in the PIW
  • take into account any waiting days
  • work out the number of qualifying days to be paid
  • work out the amount of SSP payable for the qualifying days

You can read more about what makes up a PIW - and how many waiting days there are in a PIW before SSP is payable - in our overview guide on SSP.

'Statutory Sick Pay - an overview'

SSP rates

The weekly rate for 2008-09 is £75.40.

The daily rate of SSP is the weekly rate divided by the number of agreed qualifying days (days when the employee normally works) in the week - to four decimal places.

This means that if the employee normally works five days in a week there are five qualifying days and the daily rate is £15.08 (£75.40 divided by five). If the employee normally works three days in a week there are three qualifying days and the daily rate is £25.1333 (£75.40 divided by three - to four decimal places).

You’ll find a daily rate table for SSP in the helpbook E14, 'What to do if your employee is sick'.

If the number of qualifying days to be paid in a week is equal to the number of qualifying days in a full week, the amount of SSP payable is simply the weekly rate.

If the number of qualifying days to be paid is less than a full week's worth, work out the daily rate and then multiply it by the number of qualifying days for which SSP is payable.

Helpbook E14, 'What to do if your employee is sick'

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Calculating SSP recovery manually

To calculate SSP recovery manually you'll need to:

  • add up all the SSP you paid during the tax month
  • work out your total Class 1 NICs liability for the tax month
  • work out how much 13 per cent of the month's NICs liability comes to
  • see if the SSP you paid is more than 13 per cent of your NICs liability

(This method is called the ‘percentage threshold scheme’.)

If the total SSP you paid in a tax month comes to more than 13 per cent of your Class 1 NICs liability for the month, you can recover the excess.

You enter the amount of recovery in column 5 of the P32 Employer Payment Record and offset any SSP you can recover against PAYE (Pay As You Earn), NICs and student loan deductions you're due to pay over to HM Revenue & Customs. If the amount you can recover is more than your monthly or quarterly payment due, carry the balance over to when your next payment is due.

Where you will have insufficient money to recover the payments from the next payment due or there are no further payments due in the tax year, please contact your Accounts Office to request the balance.

Get a blank form P32 Employer Payment Record

Avoiding common mistakes

Please bear in mind that:

  • if you qualify in one tax month you do not automatically qualify in others - you will have to make separate calculations for each tax month
  • if you pay your tax and NICs quarterly, although you will recover the money quarterly you must calculate the amount you’re entitled to recover monthly
  • a tax month starts on the 6th of the month and ends on the 5th of the following month

Recovering SSP for a previous tax year

If you want to recover SSP you paid in a previous tax year, you'll need to fill in form SP32. You can get this from the Employer CD-Rom or download it from our website.

You can read more about recovering SSP from previous tax years in the helpbook E14, 'What to do if your employee is sick'.

Get form SP32 to make a late SSP recovery claim

Helpbook E14 'What to do if your employee is sick'

How to correct SSP mistakes

If you discover that you underpaid or overpaid SSP during the current tax year, you must put the error right and correct your records. You can recover any overpaid SSP from your employee and should treat any overpayment or underpayment as you would an underpayment or overpayment of wages or salary – in other words record the correction as wages or salary not SSP.

If you've issued a form SSP1 you should also tell the nearest Jobcentre Plus in case the error affects any social security benefit claims the employee's made. You'll also need to see if the error affects any other SSP payments you made later.

If you don't discover the error until after the end of the tax year, contact us (see ‘Help and advice’ below) for advice.

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Help and advice

You'll find further guidance in our overview guide on Statutory Sick Pay and more detailed guidance in our helpbook E14, 'What to do if your employee is sick'.

Read an overview of the Statutory Sick Pay scheme Helpbook E14, 'What to do if your employee is sick'

Find out about advance funding for Statutory Payments

You can also find quick answers to the most commonly asked questions about SSP and a glossary of SSP terms by following the link below.

Quick answers to common questions on SSP

If you still can’t find what you need – and have already checked our related guide on how to calculate SSP and the E14 helpbook – you can ask a question through our email query service.

Use the SSP email query service

Alternatively you get advice from our Employer Helpline on Tel 08457 143 143 (open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm from Monday to Friday and from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm on Saturday and Sunday).

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