Statutory Sick Pay from day one: what changed in April 2026

Since 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay works differently. For employers with large shift-based teams, two of the changes matter more than the rest.

What changed

• No more waiting days. SSP is paid from the first day of sickness, not the fourth. Employment Rights Act 2025, section 10.

• No lower earnings limit. Every employee qualifies, whatever they earn. Section 11.

• The rate. SSP is now the lower of £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, worked out over an eight-week reference period.

Both changes came into force through SI 2026/373. Since 7 April 2026, the new Fair Work Agency has been responsible for monitoring SSP and holiday pay.

Why it matters on a rota

A one or two-day absence used to fall inside the waiting days and cost nothing in SSP. Now every day counts from the first one. Staff on low or irregular hours who used to fall below the earnings limit now qualify too.

That puts more weight on the record. Payroll needs to know which days someone was off sick, at which site, and when they came back. If that lives in a text to a shift manager, a note in a diary and a conversation nobody wrote down, it is hard to pay correctly and harder to show you did.

Where a single record helps

With Workplace Reporting, staff report absence by calling one number, 24 hours a day. Every call is answered and recorded, the reason and expected return are logged, and the right manager is told before the shift. The absence and the return sit on one record that payroll and HR can both work from.

Book a 20-minute demo to see it with your own sites.

Sources: SI 2026/373 and SI 2026/323 on legislation.gov.uk; Acas guidance on Statutory Sick Pay. This guide explains the law as it stands. It is not legal advice. Last reviewed 10 October 2026.