Statutory sick pay calculator for employers

Start from the weekly rate: SSCBA 1992 s.157(1) pays the lower of £123.25 and 80% of the employee's normal weekly earnings. Work out both figures and take the smaller one — never treat 80% as a floor under the flat rate.

Find normal weekly earnings from the relevant period in SI 1982/894 reg 19(3): at least 8 weeks, running back from the last normal pay day before the critical date to the last normal pay day at least 8 weeks before that. This is anchored to normal pay days, not a calendar lookback from the first day of sickness — ACAS's "8 weeks before the absence" is a simplification of it.

Divide the weekly rate by the number of qualifying days agreed between employer and employee in that week, beginning with Sunday (s.157(3)). This is the daily rate. Never divide by 7 — a week with 5 qualifying days pays a higher daily rate than one with 7.

Multiply the daily rate by the qualifying days of absence to get the gross amount, then cap it at the entitlement limit: 28 times the weekly rate that applies to this employee (s.155(4)) — money, not a fixed calendar duration. For an employee on the flat rate that is £3,451.00; for a 80%-branch earner it is lower, because the limit scales with their weekly rate.

Sources: SSCBA 1992 s.157 · SSCBA 1992 s.155 · SI 1982/894 reg 19

The weekly rate is the lower of £123.25 and 80% of normal weekly earnings (SSCBA 1992 s.157(1), current text). £123.25 was substituted for the previous £118.75 by the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2026 (SI 2026/148), art. 8, with effect from 6 April 2026 at 00:01.

SI 2026/373 is not the source of £123.25 generally — that SI only substitutes the same figure inside its own reg 4 transitional protection period (see below). Cite SSCBA s.157(1) plus SI 2026/148 art. 8 for the general rate.

The maximum an employee can draw from one employer is 28 times the weekly rate that applies to them (SSCBA s.155(4)), reached on the day the running total first reaches or passes it (s.155(3)). Because the 80% branch lowers the weekly rate for low earners, their cash limit is lower too — hard-coding "28 × £123.25" as a flat cap over-pays them.

Sources: SSCBA 1992 s.157 · SI 2026/148 art. 8 · SSCBA 1992 s.155

Yes, for absences from 6 April 2026. ERA 2025 s.10 omitted SSCBA s.155(1) — the old rule that made SSP unpayable for the first three qualifying days — and re-anchored the period of entitlement and qualifying days to the first qualifying day (s.10(2)–(6)). Employment Rights Act 2025 (c. 36) ss.10–13 commenced on 6 April 2026 under SI 2026/373 reg 2.

The lower earnings limit no longer bars eligibility either. ERA 2025 s.11(3) omitted the LEL bar from SSCBA Schedule 11 paragraph 2(c). An employee with £0 normal weekly earnings is still eligible for SSP post-reform — the lower-of test in s.157(1) simply yields £0, which is not the same as being ineligible.

If a calculator still asks for waiting days or gates eligibility on a minimum earnings figure, it is computing a repealed regime.

Sources: ERA 2025 s.10 · ERA 2025 s.11 · SI 2026/373

This calculator does not compute absences that started before 6 April 2026, or absences that started before that date and continued past it, because those run on one of three transitional regimes in SI 2026/373 rather than the ordinary post-reform arithmetic above.

Reg 3 covers an employee part-way through their (old) three waiting days on 6 April: if a run of at least two consecutive days contains no more than two pre-6-April waiting days and at least one post-6-April day that would have been a waiting day, SSP becomes payable for the post-6-April qualifying days, and reg 3(4) re-anchors the "critical date" to the first day of that qualifying period.

Reg 4 covers an employee already mid-period-of-entitlement on 6 April, paid SSP for at least one pre-6-April qualifying day, with normal weekly earnings between £125.00 and £154.05 inclusive: for the protection period, s.157 is switched to a flat £123.25 with the 80% test turned off, rather than dropping them to 80% of earnings.

Reg 5 covers an employee whose period of incapacity began on or before 5 April and continues, where the (now-abolished) lower earnings limit was the only reason they had no entitlement: a post-6-April period of entitlement is deemed to commence on their first post-6-April day of incapacity. Reg 5(5) carves out anyone whose period of incapacity began on or before 21 September 2025 and ran unbroken to 5 April 2026 — reg 5 does not apply to them, and treating it as if it did would pay SSP with no entitlement behind it.

None of these three regimes is computed here. If an absence spans 6 April 2026, check the case manually against SI 2026/373 regs 3, 4 and 5, or take advice.

Sources: SI 2026/373 · SI 2026/210 · SI 1982/894 reg 19