Before starting your calculations, understand these few key terms and check that the employee is eligible. Below you will find an explanation of the terms. To learn more, read our full guide on Statutory Sick Pay in the UK<\/a>.<\/p>\n An employee is someone who works for your business under an employment contract. This can include full-time, part-time and some casual workers. SSP rules do not usually apply to genuinely self-employed people.<\/p>\n The employee must have started working for you. They do not usually qualify for SSP before their first day of work.<\/p>\n The employee must be ill or injured and unable to carry out their normal work. To qualify for SSP, they must be off work for at least one full working day.<\/p>\n The employee must let you know that they are ill and cannot work. They should follow your company’s sickness reporting procedure, such as contacting their manager by phone or using an absence system.<\/p>\n If your company has not set a reporting deadline, the employee should tell you within seven days of the first day of sickness.<\/p>\n From 6 April 2026, UK GOV says<\/a> there is no minimum earnings threshold for SSP. A minimum earnings threshold is the lowest amount an employee must earn to qualify for a payment. The changes to SSP mean lower-paid eligible employees can receive pay too.<\/p>\n A standard payroll model made in Excel based on the HMRC template that you can use to prepare your employees' payroll.<\/p>\n \n \n Download for free <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n Once you have verified that the employee is eligible, you can then start calculating sick pay. You will have to collect some basic information regarding the employee first. Collecting information of this sort is easiest when you store everything in an employee portal<\/a>, making it easy to search for important documents and other data.<\/p>\n SSP is based on the employee’s average weekly earnings, often shortened to AWE. Employers will usually calculate this using earnings over an eight-week period before the sickness absence begins.<\/p>\n Qualifying days are the days the employee would normally work.<\/p>\n For example, if an employee normally works Monday to Friday, they have five qualifying days each week<\/strong>. Saturday and Sunday would not normally count towards their SSP calculation.<\/p>\n For the 2026\/2027 tax year<\/strong>, the maximum weekly SSP rate<\/a> is \u00a3123.25.<\/p>\n However, employees do not automatically receive \u00a3123.25. Their weekly SSP is whichever is lower:<\/p>\n For example, if an employee’s average weekly earnings are \u00a3100:<\/p>\n \u00a3100 x 80% = \u00a380<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Their weekly SSP rate would therefore be \u00a380, rather than \u00a3123.25.<\/p>\n If their average weekly earnings are \u00a3500:<\/p>\n \u00a3500 x 80% = \u00a3400<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Because \u00a3123.25 is lower than \u00a3400, their weekly SSP rate would be \u00a3123.25.<\/p>\n You should also check whether the employee is entitled to contractual sick pay through your company’s own sick leave<\/a> policy. Contractual sick pay can be more generous than SSP, so check the employee’s contract<\/a> and your sickness policy. In your company policy, you may even outline other options for employees who want to work from home<\/a> instead of taking sick leave.<\/p>\n Once you have the employee information above, you can calculate SSP in a few simple steps.<\/p>\n Find the first full working day the employee was unable to work because of illness.<\/p>\n Under the rules introduced on 6 April 2026, SSP is payable from the first full qualifying day of sickness. The previous three waiting days no longer apply.<\/p>\n If an employee works for part of a day before going home sick, that day does not normally count as a full sickness day for SSP purposes.<\/p>\n Average weekly earnings are usually based on earnings paid during a relevant period of at least eight weeks before the first full day of sickness.<\/p>\n For a weekly paid employee, this will usually mean adding together their earnings during the relevant eight-week period and dividing the total by eight.<\/p>\n There are different calculations for monthly paid employees and people who have only recently started their job.<\/p>\n Calculate 80% of the employee’s average weekly earnings:<\/p>\n Average weekly earnings x 0.8<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Then compare the result with the standard weekly SSP rate of \u00a3123.25.<\/p>\n Use whichever amount is lower.<\/p>\n For example:<\/p>\n Average weekly earnings: \u00a3300<\/p>\n 80% of \u00a3300: \u00a3240<\/p>\n Maximum SSP rate: \u00a3123.25<\/p>\n Weekly SSP entitlement: \u00a3123.25<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Next, work out how many qualifying days the employee normally has each week.<\/p>\n SSP is paid for full sickness days on which the employee would normally have worked.<\/p>\n Next, divide the employee’s weekly SSP rate by the number of qualifying days in the week.<\/p>\n The formula is:<\/p>\n Weekly SSP rate \u00f7 number of qualifying days = daily SSP rate<\/p><\/blockquote>\n For an employee entitled to the full \u00a3123.25 weekly rate who normally works five days:<\/p>\n \u00a3123.25 \u00f7 5 = \u00a324.65 per day<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Finally, count how many qualifying days the employee was off sick and multiply this by the daily SSP rate.<\/p>\n For example, if the employee was entitled to \u00a324.65 per day and missed three qualifying days:<\/p>\n \u00a324.65 x 3 = \u00a373.95 SSP<\/p><\/blockquote>\n HMRC<\/a> publishes daily SSP rates for different working patterns. For irregular working patterns or more complicated cases, employers can also use the government’s<\/a> SSP calculator.<\/p>\n Here are three simple SSP calculations using an employee who normally works Monday to Friday and qualifies for the full \u00a3123.25 weekly SSP rate.<\/p>\n In scenario one, an employee normally works Monday to Friday each week. They fall ill on Monday and are absent for the entire working week, returning to work the following Monday.<\/p>\n The weekly SSP rate is \u00a3123.25.<\/p>\n To calculate the daily SSP rate:<\/p>\n \u00a3123.25 \u00f7 5 = \u00a324.65 per day<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Because SSP now applies from the first full qualifying day of sickness absence, all five working days qualify for SSP.<\/p>\n The employee is absent from Monday to Friday.<\/p>\n Total SSP payable:<\/p>\n 5 x \u00a324.65 = \u00a3123.25<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The employee should therefore receive \u00a3123.25 in SSP for the week.<\/p>\n In scenario two, the same employee falls ill on Saturday and remains unwell throughout the following working week, returning to work the next Monday.<\/p>\n Although the sickness started on a Saturday, the employee does not normally work weekends. Their qualifying work days are therefore Monday to Friday.<\/p>\n The weekly SSP rate remains \u00a3123.25.<\/p>\n Daily SSP rate:<\/p>\n \u00a3123.25 \u00f7 5 = \u00a324.65 per day<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As SSP is payable from the first full qualifying day of sickness absence, all five working days qualify.<\/p>\n Total SSP payable:<\/p>\n 5 x \u00a324.65 = \u00a3123.25<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The employee receives \u00a3123.25 in SSP.<\/p>\n In scenario three, the same employee takes another period of absence due to sickness two weeks after their previous absence. This time, they are absent from Wednesday until the following Monday, returning to work on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The employee’s qualifying work days during this absence are:<\/p>\n The weekly SSP rate is \u00a3123.25.<\/p>\n Daily SSP rate:<\/p>\n \u00a3123.25 \u00f7 5 = \u00a324.65 per day<\/p>\n Because SSP is payable from the first full qualifying day of absence, all four qualifying work days are included in the calculation.<\/p>\n Total SSP payable:<\/p>\n 4 x \u00a324.65 = \u00a398.60<\/p>\n The employee should therefore receive \u00a398.60 in SSP for this period.<\/p>\n Because this period of sickness starts within eight weeks of the previous period, the two absences may be treated as linked periods. Linking does not bring back waiting days, but it can matter when tracking the employee’s overall SSP entitlement.<\/p>\n Once you have calculated the correct SSP amount, it should be processed through payroll<\/a>. SSP is normally paid on the employee’s usual payday, in the same way as their normal wages. Income Tax and National Insurance are deducted where applicable. Learn all about tax codes<\/a> and what a payslip<\/a> includes in our other articles.<\/p>\n Employers should also make sure they:<\/p>\n An employer can only ask for a fit note when an employee has been off work for more than seven days in a row, including days they would not normally work.<\/p>\n SSP can normally be paid for a maximum of 28 weeks<\/strong>. If an employee is not entitled to SSP or their entitlement is coming to an end, the employer may need to provide them with an SSP1 form<\/a>.<\/p>\n Calculating SSP is only one of the variables payroll teams need to manage every month. Keeping sick leave, working hours, expenses, benefits and salary information in separate spreadsheets can quickly make payroll more complicated. Factorial helps eliminate manual work and reduce payroll errors by centralising compensation data and automating payroll variable management.<\/p>\n With the new Compensation module, preparing payroll<\/a> becomes faster and more reliable. You can now:<\/p>\n With Compensation, you gain greater control over your payroll process in one connected platform. Request a free demo of Factorial<\/a> to see the platform for yourself.<\/p>\nBe classed as an employee<\/h3>\n
Have done some work for your business<\/h3>\n
Unable to work because of illness<\/h3>\n
Tell you about their sickness<\/h3>\n
Save time for your HR team with this Excel payslip template.<\/h4>\n \n
![](\"https:\/\/factorialhr.co.uk\/blog\/app\/plugins\/factorial-utilities\/assets\/images\/banners\/inline\/backgrounds\/default_image.svg\")
\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\nInformation you need to calculate sick pay<\/h2>\n
The employee’s average weekly earnings<\/h3>\n
The employee’s qualifying days<\/h3>\n
The employee’s weekly SSP rate<\/h3>\n
\n
Step-by-step instructions for calculating SSP entitlement<\/h2>\n
Step 1: Check the dates of the sickness absence<\/h3>\n
Step 2: Work out the employee’s average weekly earnings<\/h3>\n
Step 3: Find the employee’s weekly SSP rate<\/h3>\n
Step 4: Count the employee’s qualifying days<\/h3>\n
\n
Step 5: Calculate the daily SSP rate<\/h3>\n
Step 6: Multiply the daily rate by the number of qualifying sickness days<\/h3>\n
Example scenarios of calculating sick pay<\/h2>\n
SSP Calculation Example 1<\/h3>\n
SSP Calculation Scenario 2<\/h3>\n
SSP Calculation Scenario 3<\/h3>\n
\n
After calculating SSP<\/h2>\n
\n
Simplify your payroll with Factorial<\/h2>\n
\n
Centralise and automate your payroll processing with confidence<\/h4>\n \n
\n