How much is Statutory Sick Pay in 2026/27?

SSP is £123.25 a week or 80% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower, for up to 28 weeks. The 80% rule only reduces your SSP if you earn less than £154.06 a week on average. The most you can receive in one period of sickness is £3,451.00.

Is SSP paid from the first day of sickness?

Yes, for sickness from 6 April 2026. The waiting days were removed, so SSP is paid from the first full qualifying day you are off sick. Before then the first three qualifying days were unpaid.

How is the SSP daily rate calculated?

Divide the weekly SSP by the number of qualifying days you normally work in a week. On the flat rate with a 5-day week that is £24.65 a day. HMRC keeps the daily rate unrounded and rounds the amount due up to the next penny, so the days in a full week always add up to the weekly rate.

Do I need to earn a minimum amount to get SSP?

No, not since 6 April 2026. The Lower Earnings Limit test was removed, so any employee who has done some work under their contract can qualify. Low earners get 80% of their average weekly earnings instead of the flat rate.

What are linked periods of sickness?

Periods of sickness of at least one full working day that are 8 weeks or less apart are linked and treated as one period of incapacity. The 28-week maximum applies across all linked periods, and entitlement ends if a continuous series of linked periods lasts more than 3 years.

What happens when SSP runs out?

SSP stops after 28 weeks. If you are still sick, your employer must give you form SSP1, by the start of the 23rd week if they expect SSP to run out before you recover. You can use it to support a claim for Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance. Your employer may also pay company sick pay, which can be more than SSP but never less.

Statutory Sick Pay Calculator 2026/27

Name: UK Statutory Sick Pay Calculator
Author: Alexandre Bernier

Work out SSP from day one under the rules from 6 April 2026: £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower, for up to 28 weeks.

Last updated: October 2026 · 2026/27 rates

Your details

Average weekly earnings (gross)

Usually the average over the 8 weeks before you fell sick. Recent starters still qualify.

Qualifying days per week

The days you normally work each week.

Qualifying days off sick

Count only the days you would normally have worked.

Weeks of SSP already paid in linked periods

Leave at 0 unless a previous sickness ended 8 weeks or less before this one.

My employer has a company sick pay scheme

SSP for this absence

£123.25

5 qualifying days at £24.6500 a day, rounded up to the next penny.

Weekly SSP

£123.25

Flat weekly rate

Daily rate

£24.65

£24.6500 unrounded

Weeks left

27 of 28

135 qualifying days

Calculation

Weekly SSP = lower of £123.25 and 80% × £500.00 = £123.25

Daily rate = £123.25 ÷ 5 qualifying days = £24.6500

SSP = 5 × £24.6500, rounded up = £123.25

Entitlement used = 1 of 28 weeks

SSP for days in one week

Days off in the week	SSP
1 of 5	£24.65
2 of 5	£49.30
3 of 5	£73.95
4 of 5	£98.60
5 of 5	£123.25

How Statutory Sick Pay works

How it works

Statutory Sick Pay is the legal minimum your employer must pay when you are too ill to work. For 2026/27 the weekly amount is £123.25 or 80% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. The 80% rule only bites if you earn less than £154.06 a week on average; above that everyone gets the flat rate.

SSP is paid for qualifying days, the days you normally work. The daily rate is the weekly amount divided by your number of qualifying days, so it is higher for part-time workers but the weekly total is the same. HMRC keeps the daily rate unrounded and rounds the amount due up to the next penny: one day off in a 6-day week is £20.55, and one day in a 7-day week is £17.61.

SSP is taxable pay. Your employer pays it through payroll in the same way as your wages, with income tax and National Insurance deducted as normal. Use the salary calculator to see how a month on SSP changes your take-home pay.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 reformed SSP for sickness from 6 April 2026. Three things changed:

Paid from day one. The waiting days have gone. Before April 2026 the first three qualifying days of sickness were unpaid, so a short absence often earned no SSP at all. Now SSP is due from the first full day off sick.
No earnings threshold. You used to need average weekly earnings at least equal to the Lower Earnings Limit to qualify. That test has been removed, so low earners and people with several small jobs now qualify.
The 80% rule. To go with the wider eligibility, SSP is now the lower of the flat rate and 80% of earnings. Previously everyone eligible received the flat rate.

Because SSP is now due for a single full day off, a period of incapacity for work no longer needs to last 4 days in a row, and the same applies to the periods that are linked together. The 28-week maximum, the qualifying-day method and the 8-week linking gap did not change.

Full-time, £500 a week, off 7 working days (5-day week). 80% of £500 is more than the flat rate, so weekly SSP is £123.25 and the daily rate £24.65. Seven days gives £172.55.

Part-time, £120 a week, off 3 days (5-day week). Weekly SSP is 80% × £120 = £96.00, so £19.20 a day and £57.60 in total. Under the old rules this worker would have earned below the Lower Earnings Limit (£129.00 a week in 2026/27) and received no SSP.

£140 a week, 3 qualifying days, off 2 days. Weekly SSP £112.00, daily rate £37.3333, so two days is £74.6667, rounded up to £74.67.

Long-term sickness. On the flat rate the most SSP you can receive in one period of incapacity is 28 × £123.25 = £3,451.00.

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Reviewed by Alexandre Bernier, LLM (UK), CFP®

Educational tool: estimates only. Not individual financial, investment, tax or legal advice. Using it does not create an adviser-client relationship. Rules and figures change; check them against current HMRC and GOV.UK guidance and speak to a qualified professional. Editorial policy →

Sources

Every rate and threshold used by this calculator is taken from the official pages below. If a figure here disagrees with one of these, the official page is right, please tell us.