Sick pay calculator

How Statutory Sick Pay works from 6 April 2026

The Employment Rights Act 2025 changed Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from 6 April 2026. Three things are different from the old rules:

• SSP is paid from your first day off sick. The three unpaid "waiting days" have gone.
• There's no minimum earnings level. You used to need average earnings of at least £125 a week. That Lower Earnings Limit no longer applies to SSP.
• The rate is £123.25 a week or 80% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. The 80% rule protects lower earners from getting more in sick pay than they normally earn.

SSP is paid by your employer for the days you'd normally have worked (your qualifying days) for up to 28 weeks. It goes through payroll, so tax and National Insurance are deducted if your earnings are high enough.

How this sick pay calculator works

Enter your average pay before tax, how many days a week you normally work, and how many of those days you've been off. The calculator works out 80% of your average weekly earnings, compares it with £123.25, and divides the lower figure by your working days to get a daily rate. Totals are rounded up to the nearest penny. It stops at 28 weeks, the most SSP you can get for one period of sickness.

Average weekly earnings are based on the 8 weeks before you went off sick. If you're paid monthly, enter your monthly pay and the calculator converts it (monthly × 12 ÷ 52).

Worked examples

Full-time worker on £400 a week, off for two weeks

80% of £400 is £320, which is more than £123.25, so the weekly rate is £123.25. On a five-day week that's £24.65 a day. Ten working days off sick pays 10 × £24.65 = £246.50. Under the old rules, the first three days would have been unpaid and you'd have received £172.55.

Part-time worker on £120 a week

80% of £120 is £96, which is less than £123.25, so the weekly rate is £96, or £19.20 a day over five days. Three days off sick pays £57.60. Before April 2026 this worker would have earned too little to get any SSP.

Three-day week

Someone on £500 a week working three days gets £123.25 ÷ 3 = £41.0833 a day. Four days off pays £164.333, rounded up to £164.34.

Who can get SSP?

You need to be classed as an employee (agency workers count), to have done some work for your employer, and to have been ill for at least one full working day. You can't get SSP if you've already had 28 weeks of it, or if you're getting Statutory Maternity Pay. You must tell your employer you're ill, usually within 7 days or by any earlier deadline in your contract. For the first 7 days you can self-certify; after that you need a fit note.

If you were already off sick before 6 April 2026 and earned between £125 and £154.05 a week, Acas says you keep the flat £123.25 rate for that same period of sickness, rather than 80% of your pay.

Linked periods of sickness

Periods of sickness that are 8 weeks or less apart are linked. Linked periods count towards the same 28-week maximum and use the same average weekly earnings from the first period.

Tips

• Check your contract for company sick pay. Many employers pay full pay for a set number of weeks, which you get instead of SSP if it's at least as much.
• If your SSP is ending, your employer should send you form SSP1 so you can claim Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance.
• To see how a few weeks on SSP affects your income, compare it with your normal take-home pay using the take-home pay calculator. Holiday keeps building up while you're off sick; see the holiday entitlement calculator.

Last reviewed October 2026 using 2026/27 figures. This calculator gives an estimate for guidance only.