Statutory sick pay is paid to employees who are unable to work due to sickness or illness. It is the minimum statutory requirement that employers must pay to their employee and is separate to any company sick policy that may be in place.
You can read more about SSP eligibility on the HMRC website.
NOTE: Unlike other statutory payments, you are no longer able to reclaim SSP.
There are two methods of entering SSP. The preferred method is via the employee screen rather than the pay run as it offers a massive benefit to your time, which is that you do not have to wait until you create the pay run to enter the SSP.
The benefit of entering it in the employee screen rather than the pay run is that you can enter it as soon as the employee notifies you of their absence - i.e. before the pay run exists, so you don't defer all the work to the time of creating the pay run - then when you do create the pay run, it will pick up all the absences that you have entered during the month.
Paying SSP through the Employee's details page > Statutory Payments
You can enter SSP on the Employee's Statutory Payments page (this is the preferred way). Once you are on the employees statutory Payments page you will need to:
- Click the 'Add' button on the right hand side of the screen as pictured above.
- You will now see the statutory leave context panel. Select 'Statutory Sick Pay' from the drop down at the top of the context panel.
- Select the 'From' and 'To' dates for the total SSP period. NOTE - The from and to dates should be inclusive of waiting days (see below for more details on waiting days).
- You can decide if you want to 'reduce the basic pay by statutory amount', 'do not pay basic pay' or 'pay basic pay as entered'.
- If you wish to override the average weekly earnings value, you can tick the 'Average weekly earnings' check box and enter in an alternate average weekly earnings value.
- Select the 'Qualifying days' for this SSP period. Qualifying days should be set to the days your employee normally works. These are populated by default, based on the employees pay run defaults and the 'advanced working hours' if they're provided.
- By adding the SSP in the employee details page you can add a document to the period of illness (ie the fit note) and you can write notes.
The leave when entered through the employee details page will then automatically be applied to the pay run when the pay run is created.
Override the waiting days
If you wish to override the waiting days this can be done when entering the SSP (as described above) within the employee details page. To do this you will need to tick the override button (step 1 pictured below) and then type 0 in the box (step 2) and press save.
NOTE: If your employee has been contacted by the NHS through test and trace on or after the 28th May 2020 SSP is payable from the first qualifying day they are off work, as long as it is 4 days in a row. SSP entitlement ends 14 days after the most recent contact of the person testing positive, or sooner if notified.
Paying SSP within the pay run
You can pay SSP by following these steps:
- From within a pay run, click on the employee you wish to pay SSP for, then click 'Actions' > 'Pay Statutory Leave'.
- You will now see the statutory leave context panel. Select 'Statutory Sick Pay' from the drop down at the top of the context panel.
- Select the 'From' and 'To' dates for the total SSP period. NOTE - these dates will default to the first and last date of the current pay period. The from and to dates should be inclusive of waiting days (see below for more details on waiting days).
- You can decide if you want to 'reduce the basic pay by statutory amount', 'do not pay basic pay' or 'pay basic pay as entered'.
- If you wish to override the average weekly earnings value, you can tick the 'Average weekly earnings' check box and enter in an alternate average weekly earnings value.
- Select the 'Qualifying days' for this SSP period. Qualifying days should be set to the days your employee normally works. These are populated by default, based on the employees pay run defaults and the 'advanced working hours' if they're provided.
- Once you've entered the SSP period details, click 'Calculate'
- If the employee is eligible for SSP, you'll see the amount of SSP the employee is entitled to for the current period.
- If the employee is not eligible for SSP, you'll see the reason they're not eligible for SSP.
- Click the 'Apply' button to save the SSP record and apply it to the pay run.
Once this has been saved you can go to the Employee's details page > 'Statutory Payments' and you will be able to view the SSP details.
SSP Log
When entering SSP you can click "view log" to get more information on how the SSP values were calculated. Key data that can be viewed in the log are:
- Earnings over that period.
- The calculation to confirm the average weekly earnings (AWE).
- Confirmation that Ben qualifies for SSP.
- The waiting days applied.
- The qualifying days applied.
Linking SSP periods
SSP periods can be linked should an employee be off sick again for more than 4 consecutive days within a period of eight weeks from a previous SSP period. When SSP periods are linked, it means that the employee will not have 3 waiting days for SSP to be applied.
SSP periods are automatically linked within the system.
Employee Not Entitled to SSP
In cases where you have an employee that isn’t entitled to SSP, you need to issue an SSP1 form. You can indicate that an employee is not entitled to SSP by following these steps:
- Select the "Do not pay" option.
- Enter the reason for not paying SSP from the drop down list.
- Click 'Save; to save and apply this option.
The SSP1 form will then be made available for completion saved against the employee.
Top Tips
- If you are transferring your payroll from another system and you have an employee currently off sick you can override the waiting days in the pay run to 0.
- You also have the option to override the average weekly earnings.
- If your employee has reached the cap of 28 weeks SSP you will be unable to pay any more SSP and will be given a warning in the SSP log.
- You can utilise the attachment area within the SSP record to store any sick certificates.
- You can set up your employees qualifying days pattern in 'Employee Details' > 'Pay run Defaults' > 'Standard Work Week' then click on ‘Advanced’ so you can edit the days your employee works.
Definitions
Period of incapacity for work (PIW):
In order for SSP to be paid a PIW needs to be formed. This is a period of sickness lasting 4 or more consecutive days, this includes non-working days, bank holidays and weekends.
If there are less than 4 days then no PIW has been formed, so no SSP is due.
Average Weekly Earnings (AWE):
An employee must have average weekly earnings of at least the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) for National Insurance to qualify for SSP.
Qualifying Days:
These are the days your employee normally works, they can be counted as waiting days and can be paid SSP.
Waiting Days:
When a PIW had been formed, the first 3 days are not payable, these are the ‘waiting days’, after this SSP is due. If the PIW is linked then the waiting days only apply to the first PIW.
If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know via support@yourpayroll.co.uk