This April, Statutory Sick Pay is one of the first major changes employers need to deal with under the Employment Rights Act 2025. The new rules take effect from 6 April 2026, and they will change who qualifies for SSP, when it starts, and how it is calculated.
For HR teams and business owners, this is not one to leave sitting in the “we’ll sort that later” pile. It affects payroll, absence policies, manager guidance and, for some businesses, day-to-day cost. Acas has already flagged sick pay changes as the update employers think will have the biggest impact in their workplace.
What is changing to Statutory Sick Pay this April?
From 6 April 2026, three main changes come into force.
First, Statutory Sick Pay will be paid from the first full day of sickness absence. The current three waiting days are being removed.
Second, the lower earnings limit is being removed for SSP. That means eligible employees will no longer miss out simply because they earn below the previous minimum earnings threshold.
Third, SSP will be paid at 80% of average weekly earnings or £123.25 per week, whichever is lower. Acas says average weekly earnings will be based on the 8 weeks before the sickness absence, with payments rounded up to the nearest penny.
So, in plain English, more employees will qualify, payment starts earlier, and the amount may vary depending on earnings rather than always being the flat headline rate.
Why employers should pay attention now
This is where the statutory sick pay employment rights bill update becomes a practical business issue rather than just a legal headline.
If your current setup still relies on waiting days, earnings thresholds or old SSP wording in handbooks and contracts, those references will be out of date from 6 April. Government guidance for employers already says businesses should prepare for these changes, and HMRC has also warned employers to make sure their systems are ready.
For some organisations, the biggest issue will be process. For others, it will be cost. Either way, this is a change that reaches beyond HR and into payroll, operations and line management.
What do these SSP changes mean in practice?
The biggest immediate shift is around short-term sickness absence.
Under the old system, the first three qualifying days were usually unpaid waiting days. From 6 April, that disappears. That means sickness absence that previously would not have triggered SSP may now lead to payment from day one, provided the employee is eligible.
The removal of the earnings threshold also widens access to SSP for lower-paid employees. Government said in its response to the SSP consultation that the reforms are designed to make sick pay available to employees regardless of income level, and a March 2025 government announcement said up to 1.3 million low-paid workers could benefit from the change.
That does not automatically mean every employer will see a major spike in absence costs. It does mean more absences are likely to fall within SSP rules, and that is something employers should be prepared for.
What should employers review this month?
There are a few areas worth checking now.
Payroll systems
Your payroll software needs to be ready for day-one SSP and the new calculation method. The official 2026 to 2027 employer thresholds confirm that the weekly SSP rate is £123.25 or 80% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower, and that employers must work out the daily rate from the first day of illness based on qualifying days.
If you outsource payroll, it is still worth checking that the changes have been built in properly. Bad calculations become your problem very quickly.
Sickness absence policies
A lot of policies still refer to the older SSP rules. Early April is the point to clean that up.
Check for any mention of:
waiting days, old eligibility wording, outdated rates, or vague reporting requirements. If the policy is not clear, managers will apply it differently, and that is where problems start.
Contracts and enhanced sick pay
If you offer contractual sick pay or enhanced company sick pay, review how it interacts with SSP. If your wording mirrors SSP triggers too closely, the new day-one position could create a more generous entitlement than you intended. That is not always obvious until someone is off sick and payroll has to apply it. This is especially important because the wider Employment Rights Act timetable also includes restrictions on fire and rehire later in 2026, so sloppy contract drafting could become harder to unwind.
Manager guidance
Managers do not need a legal lecture. They do need to know what has changed.
They should understand when SSP starts, how absence should be reported, when fit notes are needed, and how return-to-work conversations should be handled consistently. Acas says employees generally need to provide a fit note after more than 7 days off sick, including non-working days.
Budgeting and absence tracking
Some employers will feel this change more than others. Businesses with lower-paid workforces, shift patterns, irregular hours or higher levels of short-term absence may notice the impact sooner. Government economic analysis says SSP reforms are expected to increase the amount of sick pay workers receive by around £400 million a year.
That is why this is worth reviewing now, not after the first payroll issues appear.
A quick reminder on what is not changing
Not everything about Statutory Sick Pay is being rewritten.
SSP is still paid through payroll by the employer, and the maximum period of payment remains 28 weeks.
So the framework is still familiar. The difference is that from 6 April it applies sooner and to more people.
The bottom line for employers
The SSP changes in the Employment Rights Act 2025 are straightforward on paper. In practice, they will catch out employers who leave them too late.
This month is the time to check your payroll setup, review your policy wording, sense-check any enhanced sick pay arrangements and make sure managers are working from the same script. Nothing dramatic. Just the basics done properly.
That is usually what keeps employers out of trouble.
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