TemporStatutory Sick Pay in 2026: What You Actually Have to Record
A groundworks firm has always run sick pay off a WhatsApp message and a bit of memory. That was fine while the first three days of any illness were unpaid anyway, because nobody's pay depended on the exact hour someone texted in. Since 6 April 2026 it isn't fine. SSP starts from day one now, the earnings floor that used to exclude a chunk of the workforce is gone, and the vague start time that never mattered before is the number a dispute turns on if HMRC or an employee ever asks.
What actually changed on 6 April 2026
Two things moved at once, both under sections 10 to 13 of the Employment Rights Act 2025. First, the three unpaid waiting days disappeared. SSP is now payable from the first full day someone can't work, not the fourth. Second, the Lower Earnings Limit that used to gate eligibility entirely has been abolished, extending SSP to an estimated 1.3 million workers who previously earned too little to qualify for anything at all.
To stop that second change accidentally paying some low earners more in sick pay than they'd have taken home working, the rate itself now has a floor built into the calculation. It's the lower of £123.25 a week for 2026/27, or 80% of the employee's average weekly earnings, worked out over the eight weeks before the absence started. Someone on a low, steady wage might get the 80% figure rather than the flat rate. Most people on standard pay will simply get £123.25.
The record you no longer have to keep, and the one you still do
Here's the part that catches people out both ways. There is no longer a specific legal requirement to keep an SSP record in a set format. That's not new for 2026, it dates back to 6 April 2014, when the Statutory Sick Pay (Maintenance of Records) (Revocation) Regulations 2014 revoked regulation 13 of the older 1982 rules. Employers stopped being told exactly what to keep and how.
What didn't disappear is regulation 13A, which still lets HMRC require an employer to produce evidence that SSP was calculated and paid correctly, if it's ever queried. And separately, general PAYE rules require payroll records, including sickness absences, to be kept for three years from the end of the tax year they relate to. So there's no prescribed form. There is very much still an obligation to be able to show your working.
Why day one changes what "good enough" used to mean
Under the old rules, a fuzzy absence start date rarely cost anyone money. The first three days weren't paid regardless, so if a manager logged "off sick, Monday-ish" instead of an actual timestamp, it didn't change the calculation. That slack is gone. The exact day someone first couldn't work is now the day their pay starts, and it's also the anchor point for the eight-week average weekly earnings window behind it. Get the start date wrong by a day and you've shifted both numbers.
Temporra doesn't calculate SSP and it isn't payroll software. What it does is capture the actual timestamp of when someone's shift was supposed to start and whether they clocked in, which is exactly the kind of record that used to live in someone's memory or a text thread. Turning "off sick, Monday-ish" into a dated, time-stamped entry is a smaller job than it sounds, and it's the piece that now sits directly upstream of getting the SSP calculation right the first time.
| Before 6 April 2026 | From 6 April 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting days | 3 unpaid days first | None, paid from day one |
| Earnings floor | Lower Earnings Limit applied | Abolished entirely |
| Weekly rate | Flat rate, or nothing below the LEL | Lower of £123.25 or 80% of average weekly earnings |
| Maximum duration | 28 weeks | 28 weeks, unchanged |
What HMRC can still ask for
An employee can self-certify the first seven days of any absence, weekends and non-work days included. A fit note only becomes necessary once someone has been off longer than that. Neither of those steps requires anything sent to HMRC in the moment. The exposure comes later, if a payment is disputed, an employee raises a grievance, or HMRC opens a compliance check and asks an employer to justify a figure on a payslip from eighteen months ago.
At that point "we're pretty sure" isn't a record. What holds up is the date you were told, the date the absence actually started, the earnings figures behind the average weekly earnings sum, and the fit note dates if there was one. None of it has to sit in a special SSP file. It just has to be findable and consistent with what was actually paid.
The cost, and who feels it unevenly
The government's own economic analysis, published alongside the reform, estimated the additional cost to employers at around £400 million a year across the UK, working out to roughly £15 per employee per year on average. That average hides a lot. A business with steady staff and low sickness absence barely notices it. A business with irregular hours, short shifts, and a workforce that was previously earning under the old earnings threshold, cleaning, hospitality, care, parts of construction, feels it a lot more, because those are exactly the roles the earnings floor used to exclude.
There's no rebate this time. The old Percentage Threshold Scheme, which let some employers reclaim a share of SSP costs, was scrapped in 2014 and nothing has replaced it. The extra cost sits with the employer, in full, from day one of every qualifying absence.
Where this goes wrong in practice
Three habits keep causing the same problem. The first is a vague start time, a message that says someone's "not coming in today" with no record of when they told you or when their shift was due to start. The second is assuming irregular or zero-hours workers are still excluded, a leftover instinct from the earnings threshold that no longer exists. The third is getting the average weekly earnings sum wrong for someone who's been in the job less than eight weeks, where the rules still require an estimate rather than an exemption.
None of these are dishonest. They're just old habits that made sense under a system with a three-day buffer and an earnings cut-off, applied to a system that no longer has either.
What to actually log for each absence
Five things, none of them requiring special software: when the employee told you, the first full day they couldn't work, whether a fit note was needed and its dates, the earnings figures for the eight weeks feeding the average weekly earnings calculation, and whether the absence links to an earlier one within the rules that treat linked periods as continuous. Sick leave also keeps accruing holiday in the background, which is worth checking against our guide on calculating holiday entitlement if long absences are common in your team. For the payroll mechanics this sits inside, our guide on running payroll for a UK small business covers the wider process, and if the underlying attendance data is still coming from memory rather than a timestamp, how to track employee hours properly is the place to start fixing that.
Frequently asked questions
When did the new SSP rules actually start?
6 April 2026, under sections 10 to 13 of the Employment Rights Act 2025. They're not upcoming any more, they're already the rules that apply to any sickness absence happening now.
Do we still have to keep a specific SSP record by law?
Not a dedicated one. The regulation that required a distinct SSP record was revoked back in April 2014. What's left is the general PAYE rule to keep payroll records, including sickness absence, for three years from the end of the tax year they relate to, and the fact HMRC can still demand evidence SSP was worked out correctly if it's ever queried.
What's the current SSP rate?
£123.25 a week for 2026/27, or 80% of the employee's average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. The 80% cap exists so nobody on very low pay ends up receiving more in sick pay than they'd have earned working.
Has the lower earnings limit really gone completely?
Yes. Before 6 April 2026, anyone earning under the Lower Earnings Limit got no SSP at all, which excluded an estimated 1.3 million low-paid workers. That threshold has been abolished outright, not lowered.
How many weeks of SSP can someone get?
Up to 28 weeks within one period of sickness or a series of linked periods. That maximum hasn't changed, only when the clock starts.
What actually counts as day one now there's no waiting period?
The first full day someone is too ill to work, provided they've told you by your deadline for reporting sickness, or within seven days if you haven't set one. A fit note is only needed once someone has been off more than seven days in a row, including weekends.
Does this cost employers more money?
Government analysis published alongside the reform put the extra cost at around £400 million a year across all UK employers, averaging roughly £15 per employee per year. There's no rebate scheme to offset it. The old Percentage Threshold Scheme was scrapped in 2014 and hasn't been brought back.
What should we actually be logging for each absence?
The date and time you were told someone was off, the first full day they couldn't work, any fit note dates if the absence runs past a week, and the earnings figures behind the average weekly earnings calculation. None of it needs a prescribed form, it just needs to exist and make sense to someone who wasn't there.
Related reading
- How to Run Payroll for a UK Small Business
- Calculating Holiday Entitlement in the UK
- How to Track Employee Hours Properly
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