Statutory Sick Pay Calculator UK

How to use this calculator

1. Count qualifying days, not calendar daysQualifying days are the days you would normally have worked. A week off sick on a Monday-to-Friday pattern is five qualifying days, not seven.
2. Enter your actual working patternQualifying days per week determines the daily rate. Getting this wrong is the most common source of an incorrect SSP figure.
3. Tick linked absence if it appliesTwo periods of sickness of four or more days each, separated by eight weeks or less, link together. The waiting days are not reapplied to the second period.
4. Add earnings only if checking eligibilityLeave the earnings field at zero to skip the check. Enter it to test whether you meet the lower earnings limit.

Why fewer working days means a higher daily rate

SSP is set as a weekly amount, and the daily rate is derived by dividing it across your qualifying days. That produces a result which looks wrong at first and is not.

Someone working five days a week has a daily rate of the weekly figure divided by five. Someone working three days a week divides the same weekly figure by three, giving a higher daily rate.

The logic is that both are entitled to the same weekly amount when off for a full week. The three-day worker reaches a full week of sickness in three qualifying days, so each day must be worth proportionally more.

The practical consequence appears in the waiting days. Three waiting days costs a five-day worker three fifths of a week's SSP. It costs a three-day worker a full week's worth. Part-time workers lose proportionally more to the waiting-day rule, which is a real if unintended effect of the structure.

Qualifying days are normally the days in the contract, but where a pattern is irregular the employer and employee can agree which days count. There must be at least one qualifying day in every week.

The entitlement runs for a maximum of 28 weeks in any period of incapacity for work. Linked periods count toward the same 28 weeks, so someone with recurring absences can exhaust the entitlement without ever having a single long absence. Once exhausted, SSP is not payable again until there has been at least eight weeks without a linked absence.

Worked example: ten days off on a five-day pattern

Ten qualifying days off, working five days a week.

The first three qualifying days are waiting days and are unpaid. That leaves seven paid days.

The daily rate is the weekly rate divided by qualifying days per week: £118.75 ÷ 5 = £23.75.

SSP due: 7 × £23.75 = £166.25.

Across ten days off, that is £16.63 a day averaged — because three of those days pay nothing. The waiting days cost £71.25, which is 30% of what would otherwise have been due.

Now run the same absence on a three-day-a-week pattern. Ten qualifying days at three a week is over three weeks of absence. The daily rate is £118.75 ÷ 3 = £39.58. Seven paid days gives £277.08.

Higher in total, but that reflects a longer elapsed absence — three and a third weeks rather than two.

If this absence links to an earlier one within eight weeks, the waiting days do not reapply. All ten days are paid: 10 × £23.75 = £237.50. The linking rule is worth knowing, because employers do sometimes reapply waiting days incorrectly to a recurrence of the same condition.

For context, £118.75 a week against a £600-a-week salary is a replacement rate of about 20%. SSP is a floor set well below subsistence for most households, which is why contractual sick pay matters so much more than the statutory figure.

SSP by working pattern

The third column is the point. A one-day-a-week worker loses three weeks of SSP to the waiting days, while a seven-day worker loses less than half a week. The weekly entitlement is identical across every row, but the waiting-day rule falls far more heavily on those working fewer days. Reforms to remove the waiting days have been legislated for, which would eliminate this effect.

Eligibility, fit notes and contractual sick pay

SSP requires an employment contract, at least four consecutive days of sickness including non-working days, and average weekly earnings at or above the lower earnings limit. Agency workers and those on zero-hours contracts can qualify — there is no minimum service requirement, unlike most other statutory payments.

The four-day rule catches people out. A three-day absence attracts no SSP at all, because the period of incapacity for work has not formed. And since the first three qualifying days are waiting days, a four-day absence typically pays only one day.

Self-certification covers the first seven calendar days. Beyond that an employer can require a fit note from a GP, though many accept self-certification for longer. A fit note may say "not fit for work" or "may be fit for work" with suggested adjustments — the second is a conversation starter rather than a clearance, and an employer who cannot make the adjustments treats it as not fit for work.

Contractual sick pay is where most employees actually get their money. Many employers pay full salary for a period, then half pay, then drop to SSP. Where contractual sick pay exceeds SSP, the employer pays the contractual amount and SSP is absorbed within it rather than added.

SSP is taxable and subject to National Insurance in the same way as wages.

When SSP runs out after 28 weeks, the employer must issue form SSP1, which supports a claim for Employment and Support Allowance. This should be issued before the entitlement ends so there is no gap.

SSP cannot be paid alongside Statutory Maternity Pay. Where both might apply, SMP takes precedence.

Employers can no longer reclaim SSP from HMRC — the Percentage Threshold Scheme was abolished, so the cost sits entirely with the employer.

Assumptions and limitations

• Calculates the statutory minimum — contractual sick pay is frequently far more generous
• Requires at least four consecutive days of sickness, which this does not verify
• Assumes a consistent working pattern with the same qualifying days each week
• Does not track the 28-week limit across previous linked absences
• Gross figures — SSP is taxable and subject to National Insurance
• Does not model the interaction with maternity, adoption or parental pay
• The weekly rate and lower earnings limit change each April, and waiting-day reforms may apply

Questions people ask about this in United Kingdom