Statutory Sick Pay Calculations

📅 This guide details the calculations for statutory sick pay based on the changes introduced in April 2026.

Learn more about how RotaMaster calculates SSP for sickness dates prior to this.

Sickness Adjustment Reason
Working Days
Personal SSP Contribution: Hours
Personal SSP Contribution: Days
Eligibility & Average Weekly Earnings
Example Sick Episode in Hours
Example Sick Episode in Days
Example Sick Episode - part way through a shift
Calculations pre 5th April 2026

⚙️ Learn more about how to configure Statutory Sick Pay

💡 Learn more about how SSP Allowances are calculated

Sickness Adjustment Reason

When recording and managing sickness episodes, only adjustment that use reasons configured as Is Sickness will be considered when SSP values and use of SSP allowances are calculated.

💡 Learn more about setting up Adjustment Reasons

💡 Learn more about recording Sickness Episodes

Working Days

In order for SSP calculations to know when a member of staff has worked, they must have either...

A rolled out rota and have been assigned as the confirmed person on shifts
Daily Working Hours within their Post > Contract

⚠️ If someone has neither a shift or daily working hours, SSP contributions will not be calculated for them when sickness episodes & adjustments are recorded.

Personal SSP Contribution: Hours

The new SSP Contribution field on sickness adjustments will display how much SSP an individual will be paid per sickness adjustment.

If your SSP allowance is calculated in hours, your personal SSP hourly rate calculation is...

Weekly Rate / Contracted Hours 

£123.25 / 22.5 = £5.48

📝 Learn more about Contracted Hours

Personal SSP Contribution: Days

The new SSP Contribution field on sickness adjustments will display how much SSP an individual will be paid per sickness adjustment.

If your SSP allowance is calculated in days, your personal SSP hourly rate calculation is...

Weekly Rate / Qualifying Days

£123.25 / 5 = £24.65

📅 Learn more more about Qualifying Days

Eligibility & Average Weekly Earnings

Eligibility

SSP contributions will be calculated and applied to sickness adjustments when these criteria are met:

You have enabled and configured Statutory Sick Pay Configuration
You have correctly set-up someone's qualifying days & leave units
You have assigned someone to a rota and/or set-up someone's Daily Working Hours
The individual has some remaining SSP Allowance
The individual was off sick for the entire day

⛔ If one or more of these requirements are missing, SSP contributions will be £0.00 on the adjustment, or calculate incorrectly if information needs to be updated (such as contracted hours, leave units or daily working hours).

Average Weekly Earnings

The SSP contribution for eligible sick days will be calculated by checking which is the lower, the current weekly rate or 80% of the their average weekly earnings over the past 8 weeks.

💡 If your organisation calculates the average weekly earnings based on two pay periods and not the standard eight weeks, you can configure this option within qualifying days.

The calculation for 80% of your average weekly earnings is...

(Total value of all shifts over the past 56 days / 8) x 0.8 

(£3372 / 8 = £421.50) x 0.8 = £337.20

If 80% of your average weekly earnings are more than the current weekly rate, the SSP contribution on the sickness adjustment will be calculated based on your personal hourly rate.

If 80% of your average weekly earnings are less than the current weekly rate, the applicable personal hourly rate is calculated as...

SSP Allowance in hours

80% of average weekly earnings / contracted hours


SSP Allowance in Days

80% of average weekly earnings / qualifying days

Example Sick Episode in Hours

Jessica has sickness recorded from 16th to 19th April
Her contracted hours are 10 and her leave units are in hours
Her average weekly earnings are calculated based on the standard 8 weeks and not 2 pay periods
Over the four days she is scheduled to work two shifts
Her personal hourly rate for SSP is calculated as weekly rate / contracted hours or £123.25 / 10 = £12.325
80% of her average weekly earnings over the past 8 weeks (total value of all shifts and adjustments) is less than the weekly rate.
This means that the hourly rate for her SSP contributions is £12.325
The SSP contribution for her shift on 16th April is valued at £86.28
To work out and confirm the hourly rate we divide the contribution by the duration of the adjustment... 86.28 / 7 = £12.325
We know this is her personal hourly rate and not 80% of her average weekly earnings

Example Sick Episode in Days

Jack has sickness recorded from 7th to 9th April
He has no daily working hours in his contract and his qualifying days are set to 5
His average weekly earnings are calculated based on the standard 8 weeks and not 2 pay periods
Over the three days he is scheduled to work two shifts...
His personal hourly rate for SSP is calculated as weekly rate / qualifying days or £123.25 / 5 = £24.65
80% of his average weekly earnings over the past 8 weeks (total value of all shifts and adjustments) is less than the weekly rate
This means that the daily rate for his SSP contribution is £24.65
We know that this is his personal daily rate and not 80% of his average weekly earnings because the current weekly rate divided by Jack's qualifying days is £24.65

Example Sick Episode - part way through a shift

Staff only qualify for SSP contributions for full days sickness.

Jack started work at 05:45 on 14th April
Part way through his shift he felt unwell and went home
The shift was split to reflect the time he did work...
We removed Jack from the second half of the shift, starting at 11am and recorded sickness...
This sickness adjustment has zero SSP contribution because he partly worked on that day
Jack then phoned in sick on 15th April and we extended his sickness record...
This absence has been given an SSP contribution, as it is a full day of sickness

SSP Contributions pre 5th April 2026

On 5th April 2026, the eligibility for and payment of SSP changed.

Prior to 5th April 2026	From 5th April 2026
Staff are only eligible from day 4 of sickness with the first 3 being 'waiting days' To be eligible for payment, you must earn at least an average of £125 per week over the past 8 weeks A flat weekly rate of £118.75 is pay able for eligible days	Staff are eligible from day 1 of sickness No lower earnings limit Eligible sick days are paid at either the new weekly rate of £123.25 - or - 80% of your average weekly earnings over either the past 8 weeks or two pay periods, whichever is the lowest

Set-up

In order for SSP contributions to be calculated, you must ensure that:

Staff must have shifts assigned within an 8 week period for the same post & their average weekly earnings for these weeks is at least £125, calculated as:
```
Total value of shifts in the 8 weeks / 8
```
Set up daily working hours for every day in the active contract in that period. This will count each day as qualifying for SSP.
Add a weekly rate in Sick Pay Configuration > Statutory Sick Pay
Record sickness spanning more than the 3 waiting days
The member of staff has some remaining SSP allowance

SSP Contribution in hours

The hourly rate calculation for someone who's SSP allowance is in hours, is:

(Current Weekly Rate / contracted hours) x sickness adjustment duration 

(£118.75 / 40 = 2.967) x 11 = £32.66

SSP Contribution in days