Statutory Sick Pay

Statutory Sick Pay is paid by your employer for the days you are off sick, up to a maximum of 28 weeks in one spell of sickness. The calculator first works out which regime applies by looking at your first sick day.

For sickness starting on or after 6 April 2026 (Employment Rights Act 2025 s.10, commenced by S.I. 2026/373):

• SSP is a day-one right — the three unpaid "waiting days" have been abolished, so every day of your absence counts as payable.
• There is no minimum-earnings test. The Lower Earnings Limit condition has been removed entirely, so the lowest-paid workers now qualify.
• The weekly rate is the lower of £123.25 or 80% of your average weekly earnings, measured over the 8 weeks before your sickness began. If you earn less than £154.06 a week, the 80% figure is what you get.

For sickness that began before 6 April 2026, the old rules still govern that spell: the first 3 qualifying days were unpaid waiting days, you had to earn at least the then Lower Earnings Limit of £125 a week — below that, the calculator reports you as ineligible under the old rules and points you towards Universal Credit and "new style" ESA instead — and SSP accrued at the 2025/26 rate of £118.75 rather than the current rate. Where a single period of sickness spans 6 April 2026, your employer should apply each year's rate to the relevant weeks; this tool uses one rate throughout, so treat a straddling period as an estimate.

The estimate counts every calendar day from your first sick day to your expected return date inclusive, deducts the legacy waiting days where they apply, converts the result to weeks (rounded up, capped at 28) and multiplies by the weekly rate. The exhaustion date shown is 28 × 7 days after your first sick day.

Assumptions and limits: the calculator treats all seven days of the week as qualifying days — if you only work some days, your employer will calculate SSP over your actual qualifying days and the total will differ. It does not link separate spells of sickness (spells separated by 8 weeks or less count as one, sharing a single 28-week maximum), and it assumes one employer. SSP is paid through PAYE like normal wages and your employer cannot reclaim it from HMRC. Once SSP runs out you may be able to claim "new style" ESA or Universal Credit — start that claim before the exhaustion date.