How to calculate Statutory Sick Pay in 2025/2026?

Marine de Roquefeuil

, Payroll Content Expert

Last updated on December 16, 2025

5 mins

Rates & thresholds for 2025/26

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Key takeaways

Here are the essential points to remember about Statutory Sick Pay:

Current value: The standard payment is £118.75 weekly for 2025/26.
Qualification: Staff must earn at least the Lower Earnings Limit and be ill for 4 consecutive days or more.
Waiting days: The first 3 days of an illness are usually unpaid.
Duration: Payments can last up to 28 weeks, with sicknesses separated by 56 days or less being ‘linked’.
Obligation: Paying the statutory minimum is a legal requirement for all qualifying staff.

The Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) rate got a boost for the tax year starting in April 2025. Here’s what employers should check regarding the amount and how it is calculated for staff up until at least April 2026.

What is the Statutory Sick Pay rate?

Statutory Sick Pay (often just called SSP) is the basic sum a UK worker gets when absent from duties due to ill health.

Be sure not to confuse SSP with Occupational Sick Pay (OSP). Note that while SSP is a basic right for every UK worker, it’s entirely up to you as a business if you’d also like to offer OSP. That said, we recommend that you set up an OSP scheme, as it’s generally a good idea to have one.

How is SSP calculated in the UK?

Put simply, how much a staff member gets in the UK depends on the number of ‘qualifying days’ they have worked each week. Let’s break this down: when someone is ill, their first three days of absence are known as ‘waiting days’. In other words, they don’t count. After that, money is payable for every shift or qualifying day that a person misses due to health issues after this initial deferment. From this, you can tot up your liability and the daily sum they are owed.

What are the current SSP rates for 2025/2026?

The figures for the year 2025/26 are as follows:

Rates (unrounded)	Qualifying days in week
£16.9642	7
£19.7916	6
£23.75	5
£29.6875	4
£39.5833	3
£59.375	2
£118.75	1

Remember, as a business, you can decide to give your staff more than the daily sum by providing additional OSP. What you mustn’t do, however, is pay lower than the basic statutory amount. Otherwise, you’ll be in breach of legislation.

How much is the weekly Statutory Sick Pay in the UK?

As you can see from our chart, the standard weekly figure here in the UK for the 2025/26 financial year is £118.75. These figures change every fiscal year, so it’s important to make sure you keep up to date, so you don’t accidentally keep giving staff an old sum. To do this, you’ll need to check the official gov.uk webpage.

Who has the right to Statutory Sick Pay?

Not every UK worker who falls ill will be entitled to sick pay. In order to qualify, they will need to meet certain criteria:

They must have an employee contract with your company (i.e. be recognised as staff);
They must have already started duties under the conditions of their contract;
They must have been ill for four or more consecutive days (known as a Period of Incapacity), including non-working days like weekends;
Their income must not be less than the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL), which is a weekly £125 for 2025/26;
They must notify you (and, in some cases, show proof) that they’ve been absent due to health issues.

In order to consider a person’s absence as “linked”, their periods of incapacity must either last four or more days or be at most eight weeks apart.

When do employees not qualify for SSP?

A staff member isn’t entitled to funds in the UK if:

They’ve already received SSP up to the 28-week limit;
They’re receiving Statutory Maternity Pay or Allowance;
They’re pregnant and off for any illness related to their pregnancy within four weeks before the one in which their baby is due;
They spent the first day of their illness in custody or involved in a strike;
They work outside the EU and are not liable for UK National Insurance contributions;
They already received Employment and Support Allowance within their first 12 weeks in your employ.

You’ll need to give employees who are not eligible an SSP1 Form. Individuals can use this document to apply for Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance.

How do I calculate the SSP rate for my staff?

You can calculate the figure for your team in two ways: manually or by using payroll software. The SSP rate formula for manual calculation is follows:

SSP rate formula

Weekly SSP rate ÷ Number of days an employee typically works in a week x (working days worker is ill – 3)

Example: a full-time worker

Mina works every Monday to Friday but was absent for a fortnight due to illness. This means she was unavailable for 10 shifts, 7 of which qualify (10 off - 3).

To calculate her total, you need to divide the weekly figure (£118.75) by the total days Mina typically does in a weekly cycle (that’s 5). Then, multiply the result by the days that qualify (the 7 we got from above). Here’s what that looks like:

£118.75 ÷ 5 x 7 = £ 166.25

Example: a part-time worker

So, what if the person is off for a fortnight but is only part-time?

Let’s say Michael is in on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. In this case, Michael is typically there for 3 days weekly. So the total days in a fortnight would be 6. Taking away the 3 waiting days would leave 3 eligible days (6 off - 3 waiting). So, the calculation would look like this:

£118.75 ÷ 3 x 3 = £ 118.75

How can software help?

Remember when we mentioned there were two ways to calculate SSP - one being manual and the other using software?

The latter is a much more convenient way to calculate SSP in the UK, and can save your team oodles of effort normally wasted on painstaking manual calculations.

Plus, payroll software automatically tracks and applies changes to SSP rates.

You can also use it to calculate your staff’s Statutory Sick Pay and Sickness deductions automatically when you indicate that a person is off sick. Now that’s pretty handy.

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Summary

What is the Statutory Sick Pay rate?
How is SSP calculated in the UK?
What are the current SSP rates for 2025/2026?
How much is the weekly Statutory Sick Pay in the UK?
Who has the right to Statutory Sick Pay?
When do employees not qualify for SSP?
How do I calculate the SSP rate for my staff?
How can software help?

Rates & thresholds for 2025/26

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Statutory Sick Pay - Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, it’s the law. As long as your staff member meets the criteria, then as an employer, you have to pay them.

The allowance resets after a cycle of 56 calendar days. That means that any sicknesses within 56 days are ‘linked’. An individual can have up to 28 weeks of linked illness in one cycle. After 56 days, this 28 week allowance resets.

Yes, staff can use their paid holiday while on sickness absence, depending on the circumstances. For instance:

If the person isn’t physically able to work but can physically still take a holiday
They’re experiencing a mental health condition that might be improved by taking a holiday
Are off ill long-term and a holiday may be helpful to their recovery

If this type of request is approved, then their sick leave should be paused while your staff member enjoys their holiday. For these days, normal holiday pay would apply. After this, the individual can either return to duties or resume their leave if they’re still not well enough to come back.

If a person is off on long-term sick leave and is therefore unable to use their full holiday allowance for that year, then they can carry some of this over into the following holiday year.