Statutory Sick Pay 2026/27: how much you get and from which day

What changed on 6 April 2026

Statutory Sick Pay is the minimum an employer must pay an employee who is off sick, set in law rather than by contract. Two reforms from the Employment Rights Act 2025 took effect from 6 April 2026, the start of the 2026/27 tax year, and both make SSP more generous than before.

• Day-one payment: the previous rule paid nothing for the first three “waiting days” of an absence – SSP now starts on day one of a qualifying sickness absence.
• No earnings floor: SSP used to require average weekly earnings at or above the Lower Earnings Limit (£125 a week in 2025/26) – that threshold has been abolished, so lower-paid and part-time employees who previously got nothing now qualify.

Both changes only affect who qualifies and from when – the weekly rate calculation itself, 80% of average weekly earnings capped at a fixed amount, works the same way it always has.

How much SSP pays

Weekly SSP is 80% of your average weekly earnings (AWE), capped at £123.25 for 2026/27. AWE is normally your gross pay over the 8 weeks before the sickness began, divided by 8. Most full-time and mid-income employees hit the cap – 80% of their earnings comes out higher than £123.25, so the flat rate applies. Only lower earners get the uncapped 80% figure.

Read the last two columns together: below roughly £8,000 a year, SSP moves with your earnings (80% of AWE is below the cap). Above that level, weekly SSP is fixed at £123.25 no matter how much more you earn – someone on £35,000 and someone on £100,000 receive exactly the same amount per sick day.

Worked example: £35,000 salary, 20 sick days

Someone earning £35,000 a year, working a standard 5-day week, has average weekly earnings of £673.08 (£35,000 ÷ 52). 80% of that is £538.46, well above the £123.25 cap, so the weekly rate is capped at £123.25. Divided across 5 qualifying days a week, that's a daily rate of £24.65.

Part-time and irregular hours

SSP scales to your actual working pattern, not a full-time week. Someone working 3 qualifying days a week on £15,000 a year has average weekly earnings of £288.46, which is above the cap, so they also get the flat £123.25 – but split across only 3 qualifying days, giving a daily rate of £41.08. Over 12 qualifying sick days that comes to £492.96, almost identical to the £35,000 full-time example above despite the very different salary, because both are capped weekly amounts spread over different day counts.

This is the main practical effect of removing the earnings floor: a genuinely low-paid part-time role, previously excluded from SSP entirely if average weekly earnings sat under the old Lower Earnings Limit, is now covered as long as there's an employment relationship and a qualifying sickness absence.

What happens after 28 weeks

SSP is capped at 28 weeks for a single period of incapacity for work (or linked periods within a set gap). Once that's exhausted, the employer has no further statutory obligation to pay sick pay – though a contractual sick pay scheme may continue separately. Someone still unable to work at that point typically needs to claim Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit, which are separate benefits assessed on different rules, not extensions of SSP.

Who is excluded

Removing the earnings floor closed the biggest gap, but SSP still doesn't cover everyone. The genuinely self-employed have no SSP entitlement at all – they rely on their own income protection or, if eligible, Employment and Support Allowance. Someone already receiving Statutory Maternity Pay, or within the qualifying period after starting a new job with no continuous employment history yet in some edge cases, can also fall outside standard SSP – an employer's HR or payroll team is the right place to check an individual case.