Are my employee’s entitled to sick pay?

Are my employee’s entitled to sick pay?

There may be occasions when your employees are unable to attend work due to sickness or injury.  It is therefore a good idea to inform all your employees of your expectations on how you wish to be notified that they are unfit and will not be able to attend work. For example, you may request that the individual call you to inform you of their absence in person, and by a certain time, or you may be happy to receive a text.

Whilst unfit for work your employee may be entitled to Statutory Sick pay (SSP). For the 2019/20 tax year the rate or SSP is £94.25 per week for up to 28 weeks.

To qualify for SSP your employee must meet the following criteria:

·         Employees must be absent from work due to sickness for 4 consecutive days (the first three days are unpaid)

·         The employee must earn more than £118.00 per week or £512.00 per month.

·         They must have notified you of absence by the agreed deadline – or within 7 days if there is no agreed deadline.

·         They must not have already exceeded 28 weeks sickness or have had a continuous series of linked periods that lasts more than 3 years

·         They are not already receiving Statutory Maternity pay, or have become unfit for work with a pregnancy related illness in the 4 weeks before the week their baby is due.

Whilst this can sound confusing, dhpayroll will processes the Statutory Sick Pay on your behalf when you notify us of your employee’s absence, and will check their eligibility on your behalf. However it is good practice to make sure that all staff are aware of your expectations and requirements regarding absences when they start working for you.

SSP cannot be reclaimed by the employer from HMRC, so if you are funded by direct payments or PHB you may need to check that additional funds are available in your budget to cover the cost of SSP, especially if you will be using a cover carer.  Additional payments to employees (in addition to SSP) are not funded by direct payments or Personal Health budgets.