HMRC: Changes to Statutory Sick Pay from 6 April 2026

UK HMRC Publications & Guidance

Published April 6th, 2026

Detected March 18th, 2026

Summary

HM Revenue & Customs has updated guidance on Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) changes effective April 6, 2026. Key changes include SSP availability regardless of earnings, payment from the first day of absence, and a new rate of 80% of average weekly earnings or a flat rate of £123.25, whichever is lower. Employers must review policies and prepare payroll systems.

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What changed

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has issued updated guidance detailing significant changes to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) effective April 6, 2026. The changes will make SSP available to all eligible employees irrespective of their earnings, payable from the first full day of sickness absence, and set at 80% of an employee's average weekly earnings (AWE) or a new flat rate of £123.25 per week, whichever is lower. The guidance also clarifies how SSP will apply to ongoing sickness absences that began before April 6, 2026, including scenarios where employees were previously ineligible due to earning below the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) or were serving waiting days.

Employers are required to review their sickness absence policies, ensure their payroll providers are prepared for the new calculations, and communicate these changes to their employees before the April 6, 2026, effective date. Specific attention should be paid to employees who were not entitled to SSP before the changes due to earning below the LEL, or those who are restarting a sickness absence, as their eligibility and payment calculations may be affected. Failure to implement these changes correctly could lead to non-compliance and potential disputes regarding employee entitlements.

What to do next

Review and update internal sickness absence policies.
Confirm payroll provider readiness for new SSP calculation rules.
Communicate SSP changes to all employees.

Source document (simplified)

Guidance

Sickness absences that start before and end on or after 6 April 2026

Find out about the changes to Statutory Sick Pay, when they'll be introduced and what to do when a sickness absence starts before and ends on or after 6 April 2026.

From: HM Revenue & Customs Published 18 March 2026 Get emails about this page Print this page From 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) will be:

available to all eligible employees regardless of their earnings
payable from the first full day of sickness absence
paid at 80% of an employee’s average weekly earnings (AWE) or the uprated weekly flat rate of £123.25, whichever is lower Find out how you can work out your employee’s AWE.

What you need to do before 6 April 2026

To prepare for the changes, you should:

review your sickness absence policies
check your payroll provider is prepared, if you use one
share the changes with employees

Sickness absences that start before and end on or after 6 April 2026

An employee not entitled to SSP due to earning below the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL)

If an employee started their sickness absence before 6 April 2026 but was not entitled to SSP because they earned below the LEL, they may be entitled to SSP from 6 April 2026.

An employee will be entitled to SSP from 6th April 2026 if their sickness absence started on or:

after 22 September 2025
before 21 September 2025, but they had periods where they returned to work between 22 September 2025 and 5 April 2026 For these employees, you should calculate their AWE based on the period before their sickness absence (or their first sickness absence if it is a linked period). They will be entitled to their weekly rate of SSP for up to 28 weeks.

An employee will not be entitled to SSP from 6th April 2026 if their sickness absence started on or before 21 September 2025 and continued without a break until 5 April 2026. This also applies to any linked sickness absence that continues on or after 6 April 2026. They will only become entitled to SSP again once they have returned to work for at least 8 weeks.

Check if the employee is still eligible for SSP before paying it. If they’ve received Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) in the last 85 days, they are not eligible.

An employee who is serving waiting days on 6 April 2026

If an employee’s sickness absence has just started and they would have had waiting days under the old rules, those waiting days no longer apply from 6 April 2026. SSP will not be paid for waiting days before 6 April 2026.

An employee who is restarting a sickness absence

Some employees may have been off sick before 6 April 2026 and:

received SSP
returned to work
restarted a sickness absence from 4 or 5 April 2026
If the employee restarted a sickness absence from 4 or 5 April 2026 and it continues on or after 6 April 2026, the number of qualifying SSP days depends on how long the sickness absence lasts. If it lasts:
3 days or less — SSP is only paid for qualifying days on or after 6 April 2026
4 days or more — SSP is paid for any qualifying days from the first day of the restarted sickness absence

An employee receiving SSP before 6 April 2026

Employees already receiving SSP before 6 April 2026 should be paid the new rate from 6 April 2026.

If an employee was already off sick before 6 April 2026 and their AWE would mean their SSP rate would reduce, they should be paid the new flat rate instead of 80% of their AWE.

This will apply if the employee:

earns between £125 and £154.05 per week
was receiving SSP before 6 April 2026, and is still off sick on that date This ends when the employee returns to work or their SSP entitlement ends. If they return to work after 6 April 2026 and later go off sick again, they should be paid 80% of their AWE for that new absence, even if that absence is linked.