You’re only responsible for paying SSP if:
- you pay Class 1 National Insurance contributions for your employee (or would do if not for their age or their level of earnings)
- your employee was sick for 4 or more days in a row (including non-working days)
- your employee has told you they’re sick within your own time limit (or 7 days if you do not have one)
This calculator will be updated on 7 April 2026. It may not give accurate results on 6 April.
Different periods of sick leave
You can combine periods of sick leave if the gap between them is 8 weeks or less. These are called ‘linked Periods of Incapacity for Work (PIW)’.
If there’s more than one linked PIW, you’ll need to work out the SSP manually.
The rules on SSP are changing on 6 April 2026. If your employee’s sick leave starts before and continues on or after 6 April 2026, find out what you need to do.