Statutory Sick Pay for Trade Businesses — What Employers Must Pay and How It Works (2026)

What Statutory Sick Pay Actually Is

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is a legal minimum that employers must pay to eligible employees who are off work because of illness. It is set by the government, paid by you the employer, and is not optional — if an employee qualifies, you must pay it. It applies regardless of the size of your business. A two-van firm with one employed groundworker has exactly the same SSP obligation as a national contractor.

SSP is a floor, not a ceiling. You are free to pay more than SSP through a contractual or occupational sick pay scheme, and many established firms do. But you cannot pay less than SSP to a qualifying employee, and you cannot contract out of it. Treating SSP as discretionary "goodwill" is one of the most common mistakes trade employers make, and it can land you at an employment tribunal or with an HMRC dispute.

Who Qualifies for SSP

Not everyone who works for you qualifies. To be entitled to SSP, a worker must meet all of the following conditions:

• They are classed as an employee and have done some work for you under their contract. Genuine self-employed subcontractors are not employees and get no SSP (more on this below).
• They earn at least the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) on average — currently around £125 per week, reviewed each April, so check the exact figure on GOV.UK. Workers earning below the LEL do not qualify for SSP.
• They have been off sick for at least 4 days in a row, including non-working days such as weekends and bank holidays. This run of 4 or more consecutive sick days is called a Period of Incapacity for Work (PIW).
• They have told you they are sick within your notification deadline (you can set one, but it cannot be unreasonable — you cannot insist on, for example, notice in person or by a specific time of day).

Note the 4-in-a-row rule carefully. A labourer who is off for one or two days with a stomach bug does not trigger SSP at all — there is no PIW. SSP only ever comes into play once that fourth consecutive day of sickness is reached.

Qualifying Days and the Three Waiting Days

SSP is only paid for qualifying days — the days an employee normally works under their contract. For most trade employees that means Monday to Friday, but for shift workers or part-timers it could be any agreed pattern. You and the employee agree the qualifying days; SSP is never paid for a day that was not a working day.

The catch that surprises most new employers is the three waiting days. SSP is not payable for the first 3 qualifying days of any period of sickness. Payment only starts from the fourth qualifying day. So if your employed plasterer is off sick Monday to the following Monday, you pay nothing for the first three qualifying days (Mon, Tue, Wed) and SSP begins on the fourth qualifying day (Thursday).

The waiting days are not the same as the 4 calendar days that form the PIW — the PIW (which includes non-working days) is what triggers entitlement, and the waiting days are the first 3 qualifying days for which no SSP is paid. Get these two concepts straight and SSP becomes much easier to administer.

The SSP Rate and How Long It Lasts

SSP is paid at a flat weekly rate set by the government and reviewed every April, so always confirm the current figure on GOV.UK before you run a payroll. As a recent guide — check the current rate — SSP has been in the region of £116–£120 per week. You divide the weekly rate by the number of qualifying days in that week to get a daily rate, then pay for each qualifying day owed.

SSP can be paid for a maximum of 28 weeks for any one period of sickness (or series of linked periods — see below). Once an employee has received 28 weeks of SSP, your obligation to pay it ends, even if they remain too unwell to work. At that point they may need to claim Employment and Support Allowance instead, which we cover further down.

Because the SSP rate is well below most trade wages, an employee on SSP alone will see a sharp drop in income. That is exactly why many firms offer additional contractual sick pay on top — to protect skilled tradespeople from a heavy financial hit when they are genuinely ill.

How SSP Is Paid — Through Payroll

SSP is not a separate cheque or a cash handout. It is paid through your normal payroll on the employee's usual payday, in the same way as ordinary wages. It is subject to PAYE income tax and National Insurance deductions just like a salary, and it appears on the payslip.

Crucially for cash flow: in normal circumstances you cannot reclaim SSP from HMRC. The Percentage Threshold Scheme, which used to let some employers recover a portion of SSP, was abolished in April 2014. Since then the cost of SSP falls on the employer. (Temporary COVID-era rebate schemes existed for a time but have ended.) For a small trade firm this means an employee's long-term sickness is a direct cost to the business — budget for it as a real risk, not a remote one.

Self-Certification and Fit Notes

You can ask an employee to confirm the reason for their absence, but you cannot demand a doctor's note for short spells. The rules work like this:

• First 7 days: the employee can self-certify. Many employers use form SC2 (the self-certification form available from GOV.UK) or their own equivalent for the employee to declare the dates and reason for sickness.
• After 7 days: you can reasonably ask for a fit note (formerly called a sick note) from a GP, hospital doctor or other authorised healthcare professional. A fit note may say the employee is "not fit for work" or "may be fit for work" with adjustments — the latter is worth discussing, as a phased return or lighter duties can get a valued tradesperson back on site sooner.

Do not withhold SSP simply because a fit note arrives late, provided the employee is genuinely sick and entitled. Keep copies of self-certifications and fit notes with your payroll records.

Linking Periods of Sickness

If an employee has two or more periods of sickness, each of 4 or more days, and they are 8 weeks or less apart, those periods are "linked" and treated as a single period of incapacity. This matters for two reasons. First, the 3 waiting days are not deducted again for a linked period — the employee has effectively already served them. Second, linked periods count together toward the 28-week maximum.

So an employee with an ongoing or recurring condition who keeps having short spells off within 8 weeks of each other will use up their 28 weeks of SSP across the linked total. Track the dates carefully — this is one of the easiest things to get wrong if you are administering payroll by memory rather than from clean records.

When SSP Runs Out

When an employee approaches the end of their 28 weeks of SSP, or if they were never eligible in the first place, you must give them form SSP1. This form tells them why SSP is ending (or why it cannot be paid) and the date it stops, and it allows them to claim Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Universal Credit from the Department for Work and Pensions.

You should issue the SSP1 in good time — generally no later than 7 days after SSP ends, or earlier if you know it is coming. Handing it over promptly avoids a gap in the employee's income and keeps you on the right side of the rules. ESA is a state benefit, not something you pay; your role is simply to provide the SSP1 so they can make the claim.

Contractual Sick Pay vs SSP

Many established trade firms run a contractual (occupational) sick pay scheme that pays more than SSP — for example, full pay for the first two or four weeks of sickness, then SSP after that. This is a benefit you choose to offer, usually written into the employment contract or staff handbook.

Where contractual sick pay exists, it usually includes the SSP element — you do not pay SSP on top of full contractual pay. If your contractual pay is more than SSP for a given period, that payment satisfies your SSP obligation. The key points to get right:

• Spell out the scheme clearly in the contract — how much, for how long, after what length of service, and how many days a year are covered.
• Apply it consistently to all employees in the same category to avoid discrimination claims.
• Never let your contractual scheme fall below the SSP minimum for an eligible employee — SSP is always the floor.

Offering some contractual sick pay can be a genuine retention tool in a trade where good people are hard to find. But cost it carefully — a generous scheme that pays full wages for long absences can be expensive for a small firm.

Records You Must Keep

Even though you no longer reclaim SSP, you must keep accurate records to show you have met your obligations if HMRC or an employee ever queries them. Sensible practice is to record:

• The dates of each employee's sickness absence, including the start and end of every PIW.
• The qualifying days that applied and the waiting days served.
• The SSP actually paid, with dates and amounts, reconciled to payroll.
• Self-certifications (SC2) and any fit notes received.
• Any SSP1 forms issued and the date you gave them out.

HMRC expects payroll records to be kept for at least 3 years after the end of the tax year they relate to. Keeping sickness dates, certificates and SSP calculations in one organised place — rather than scattered across texts, paper notes and memory — saves a lot of stress if there is ever a query. Logging absences and key staff documents in Trade2Base alongside your jobs and invoices keeps the trail tidy and makes year-end payroll reconciliation far simpler.

Sole Traders and Subcontractors — No SSP at All

This is the part that trips up everyone moving from working alone to running a team. SSP only applies to employees. If you are a sole trader, or you engage genuinely self-employed subcontractors (including most workers paid under CIS), there is no Statutory Sick Pay — for you or for them.

If you are self-employed and you are ill, your income simply stops. The state safety net for the self-employed is limited — you may be able to claim ESA or Universal Credit depending on circumstances, but there is no employer paying you anything. The practical answer for sole traders and subcontractors is to protect yourself: build a cash buffer of savings, and consider income protection or accident-and-sickness insurance that pays out a weekly or monthly sum if you cannot work. For a self-employed tradesperson whose income depends entirely on being on the tools, a serious injury without cover can be financially devastating.

A word of caution on labelling. Calling someone "self-employed" does not make it so. If a worker is in reality treated as an employee — fixed hours, your tools, your control, no genuine right to send a substitute — HMRC or a tribunal may find they were an employee all along, and SSP (plus holiday pay and other rights) may be owed retrospectively. Get the employment status right from the start.

Quick Reference: SSP for Trade Employers 2026

SSP is not complicated once you understand the building blocks — eligibility, the PIW, waiting days, the flat rate and the 28-week cap. The mistakes that cost trade employers money are nearly always administrative: missing a linking period, paying late, or failing to keep records. Stay organised and SSP becomes routine.