Statutory Sick Pay and Maternity Pay
What is Statutory Sick Pay?
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is money that is payable to an employee
who can show that he or she is unable to work for you, for a period
of time, due to illness.
The purpose of this information sheet is to provide basic information
about Statutory Sick Pay. For more detailed help, you should contact
Centre for Independent Living - Belfast or the Business Support
Team at the Inland Revenue
Who can get Statutory Sick Pay?
SSP can be paid to employees who fulfil the following criteria;
- He or she works part-time or full time for you.
- Your employee is absent due to illness for at least 4 calendar
days in a row. This is known as a Period of Incapacity for Work
(PIW).
- Your employee’s average weekly earnings must be at least
at the Lower Earnings Limit (the current rate from April 2008
is £90) in the relevant period before he or she was unable
to work.
Your employee does not need to have made any National Insurance
Contributions to be eligible for Statutory Sick Pay.
You are not required but are entitled to ask for reasonable evidence
of your employee’s inability to work. After the first 7 days
of sickness, you may ask your employee to produce a doctor’s
certificate.
What are Qualifying Days?
SSP is only paid for days that are ‘Qualifying Days’.
Qualifying Days are usually the days of the week that your employee
normally works.
- All days of sickness count towards the 4 Qualifying Days
including weekends, holidays and any other days that your
employee would normally work .Employees who are sick for 3 calendar
days or less, will not qualify for SSP and you do not need to
record them for this purpose.
- Statutory Sick Pay, like normal earnings, may incur Tax and
National Insurance Deductions.
Any two PIWs that are separated by eight weeks (56 days) or less
‘link’ and are treated as one PIW. A PIW must always
be formed before there is a link, that is your employee must be
sick for at least another 4 days in a row. Odd days of sickness
do not form a PIW and therefore cannot link.
Statutory Sick Pay tables to help you check if Periods of Incapacity
for Work link are available from the Inland Revenue.
If your employee has been sick for 4 consecutive days and is not
entitled to Statutory Sick Pay and he or she is still sick, you
should issue a form SSP1. If a PIW links and you issued a form SSP1
for the previous PIW, you should issue another SSP1.
If PIWs link and you paid Statutory Sick Pay last time and it is
unnecessary for your employee to serve waiting days in the linked
PIW, you should pay for all Qualifying Days.
If two or more Periods of Incapacity for Work link, it is your
responsibility to check whether or not any waiting days have already
been served. Waiting days are only served once and you should ignore
any waiting days served with a previous employer.
It is important to remember, when working out PIWs, weeks start
on Sundays and end on Saturdays.
When should I pay Statutory Sick Pay?
You should pay Statutory Sick Pay on the day that your employee
would normally be paid.
What method of payment should I use?
You should pay SSP in exactly the same way you would normally pay
your employee(s). If your employee is normally paid in person, you
may wish to send him or her a cheque.
How do I work out how much to pay?
The amount of Statutory Sick Pay due to employees is set by the
Government and depends on the length of time your employee is unable
to work due to illness. It is paid at a weekly or daily rate, depending
on the length of absence.
- The weekly rate for this tax year (2008-2009) is £75.40.
- The daily rate is calculated by dividing the weekly rate by
the number of Qualifying Days that are used in a week.
How long do I pay Statutory Sick Pay for?
You can pay SSP for up to 28 weeks in either a single or linked
PIW unless there is a change of circumstances, such as your employee
being no longer ill, leaving, or is pregnant and entitled to receive
Statutory Maternity Pay.
When can I claim Statutory Sick Pay back?
If the amount of SSP paid in any tax month is greater than 13%
of the total amount of Class 1 National Insurance Contributions
(employers and employees) you will be able to recover the difference.
For further information on how
to recover Statutory Sick Pay, please contact the Inland Revenue.
Statutory Maternity Pay
Female employees expecting a baby on or after 1 April 2007 who
qualify can get a maximum of 39 weeks SMP.
For the first 6 weeks your employee will be entitled to 90% of
her weekly earnings. In the remaining 33 weeks she should be paid
£117.18 per week or 90% of her average weekly earnings if
this is less than £117.18.
To meet the qualifying conditions, the employee must:
- Have average weekly earnings that are higher than the lower
earnings limit for National Insurance Contributions. For 2008–2009
the lower earnings limit is £90.
- Have been constantly employed by you for at least six months
when the baby is due.
- Still be pregnant at the eleventh week before her baby is expected.
- Have stopped working for you.
Statutory Maternity Pay covers 39 weeks. Your pregnant employee
is entitled to receive SMP for that period, regardless of whether
or not she intends to return to work for you.
You will probably be able to claim the Statutory Maternity
Pay back in full under a scheme called the Small Employer Relief
scheme because your National Insurance Contributions are unlikely
to exceed £20,000.
You get the money back by deducting Statutory Maternity Pay
paid from your monthly/quarterly payment of National Insurance
Contributions. If you need to get the money back quickly, for
example, to allow you to be able to pay for someone else to
cover while your worker is on Maternity Leave, you should contact
the Accounts Office at the Inland Revenue. The contact details
are printed on the front cover of your yellow paying in book.
You should tell them
- How much Statutory Maternity Pay you paid.
- The amount you are entitled to recover, including compensation
(4.5% of the amount you paid).
- That you need them to pay that amount because you need it for
covering staff.
You can get more information on pay and time off for parents in the Employer's
Help Book E15 which is available form the Inland Revenue.
If your employee does not qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay,
she may still be able to get Maternity
Allowance.
What rights do my employees have if they become pregnant?
Any female employee who becomes pregnant is entitled by law to
have reasonable time off work for ante-natal care. You may not refuse
time off unreasonably and you must pay your worker her normal wages
while she is absent from working for you.
The length of time an employee has been working for you or whether
it is in a full-time or part-time capacity is irrelevant. You have
no right, as an employer to insist upon an employee making up for
the time she has been off to receive ante-natal care.
It may sometimes, be reasonable for you to refuse time off during
working hours but you need to take into account things like the
hours that she works for you and the availability of appointments
to her. You should take a common sense approach and assess each
case on merit.
A booklet titled Maternity Rights – A Guide for Employers
and Employees, available from the Department
for Employment & Learning Northern Ireland.
If you require further information on Maternity Rights, you should
contact Centre for Independent Living – Belfast or your local
Citizens Advice Bureau.
Should I keep records?
You must keep a record of all payments of Statutory Sick Pay. You
may require this information to complete form(s) P14 at the end
of the tax year. Even if you don’t pay SSP you still need
to keep records of periods of sickness that last 4 or more days.
You should also record Statutory Maternity/Paternity
Pay.
Where do I get more information?
For more information about Statutory Sick Pay, Statutory Maternity
or Paternity Pay contact Centre for Independent Living – Belfast
or
Inland Revenue
Business Support Team
Beaufort House
Level 8
31 Wellington Place
Belfast BT1 6BH
Tel. 028 9053 2755
Fax. 028 9053 2524
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