What is Statutory Sick Pay and how much is it in 2026/27?

Full answer

Statutory Sick Pay is the legal minimum an eligible employee must be paid while off sick, though the flat weekly rate is modest and many employers provide more generous contractual sick pay schemes. **The 2026/27 rate** SSP is £123.25 a week for 2026/27, paid for up to a maximum of 28 weeks of sickness absence -- this is a flat weekly rate regardless of your normal salary, so it represents a much smaller proportion of income replacement for higher earners than for lower earners. **Qualifying conditions** To qualify for SSP, you must be classed as an employee (not self-employed), have average weekly earnings of at least £129 (the Lower Earnings Limit for 2026/27), and have been sick for at least four consecutive days (including non-working days) -- the first three "waiting days" of sickness are typically unpaid under SSP rules, with payment starting from the fourth qualifying day, though this can vary with certain repeat short-term absences within an eight-week period. **Who is not eligible** Self-employed people are not eligible for SSP (though may be able to claim certain other benefits if unable to work), and employees earning below the Lower Earnings Limit also do not qualify -- agency workers and those on zero-hours contracts can still be eligible for SSP if they meet the earnings and other criteria. **Enhanced contractual sick pay** Many employers, particularly larger organisations and the public sector, offer more generous contractual sick pay -- commonly full pay for a set period (perhaps the first few weeks or months, sometimes scaling by length of service), before reverting to SSP or a reduced rate -- always check your specific employment contract or staff handbook for your employer's actual sick pay policy, since it is often far more generous than the statutory minimum alone. **How SSP is paid** SSP is paid by your employer through normal payroll, subject to Income Tax and National Insurance in the usual way, alongside any other pay you receive in that period (such as top-up from an enhanced sick pay scheme). **Worked example** An employee with no enhanced contractual sick pay is off sick for six weeks. After a 3-day waiting period, they receive SSP for the remaining portion of the first week and the following five weeks: roughly 5.4 weeks of SSP at £123.25 = approximately £665.55 total -- a significant reduction compared with their normal salary if they have no employer top-up scheme. **Long-term sickness beyond 28 weeks** Once SSP is exhausted (after 28 weeks), employees who remain unable to work due to illness may need to look at other support, such as Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Universal Credit, depending on their circumstances, since SSP itself has a hard maximum duration. **Practical tip** Check whether your employer's sick pay policy is more generous than the statutory minimum, and understand how any enhanced sick pay tapers over a longer absence, since many schemes reduce from full pay to half pay to SSP-only over a defined period rather than remaining at full pay indefinitely.

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