Sickness absences that start before and end on or after 6 April 2026
Find out about the changes to Statutory Sick Pay, when they'll be introduced and what to do when a sickness absence starts before and ends on or after 6 April 2026.
From 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) will be:
- available to all eligible employees regardless of their earnings
- payable from the first full day of sickness absence
- paid at 80% of an employee’s average weekly earnings (AWE) or the uprated weekly flat rate of £123.25, whichever is lower
Find out how you can work out your employee’s AWE.
What you need to do before 6 April 2026
To prepare for the changes, you should:
- review your sickness absence policies
- check your payroll provider is prepared, if you use one
- share the changes with employees
Sickness absences that start before and end on or after 6 April 2026
An employee not entitled to SSP due to earning below the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL)
If an employee started their sickness absence before 6 April 2026 but was not entitled to SSP because they earned below the LEL, they may be entitled to SSP from 6 April 2026.
An employee will be entitled to SSP from 6th April 2026 if their sickness absence started on or:
- after 22 September 2025
- before 21 September 2025, but they had periods where they returned to work between 22 September 2025 and 5 April 2026
For these employees, you should calculate their AWE based on the period before their sickness absence (or their first sickness absence if it is a linked period). They will be entitled to their weekly rate of SSP for up to 28 weeks.
An employee will not be entitled to SSP from 6th April 2026 if their sickness absence started on or before 21 September 2025 and continued without a break until 5 April 2026. This also applies to any linked sickness absence that continues on or after 6 April 2026. They will only become entitled to SSP again once they have returned to work for at least 8 weeks.
Check if the employee is still eligible for SSP before paying it. If they’ve received Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) in the last 85 days, they are not eligible.
An employee who is serving waiting days on 6 April 2026
If an employee’s sickness absence has just started and they would have had waiting days under the old rules, those waiting days no longer apply from 6 April 2026. SSP will not be paid for waiting days before 6 April 2026.
An employee who is restarting a sickness absence
Some employees may have been off sick before 6 April 2026 and:
- received SSP
- returned to work
- restarted a sickness absence from 4 or 5 April 2026
If the employee restarted a sickness absence from 4 or 5 April 2026 and it continues on or after 6 April 2026, the number of qualifying SSP days depends on how long the sickness absence lasts. If it lasts:
- 3 days or less — SSP is only paid for qualifying days on or after 6 April 2026
- 4 days or more — SSP is paid for any qualifying days from the first day of the restarted sickness absence
An employee receiving SSP before 6 April 2026
Employees already receiving SSP before 6 April 2026 should be paid the new rate from 6 April 2026.
If an employee was already off sick before 6 April 2026 and their AWE would mean their SSP rate would reduce, they should be paid the new flat rate instead of 80% of their AWE.
This will apply if the employee:
- earns between £125 and £154.05 per week
- was receiving SSP before 6 April 2026, and is still off sick on that date
This ends when the employee returns to work or their SSP entitlement ends. If they return to work after 6 April 2026 and later go off sick again, they should be paid 80% of their AWE for that new absence, even if that absence is linked.