Statutory sick pay

Last updated

In the United Kingdom statutory sick pay (SSP) is paid by an employer to all employees who are off work because of sickness for longer than 3 consecutive workdays (or 3 non-consecutive workdays falling within an 8-week period) but less than 28 weeks and who normally pay National Insurance contributions (NICs), often referred to as earning above the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL). [1] Days on which the employee would normally have worked are referred to as qualifying days; the first three of these, known as waiting days, are unpaid unless the employee has qualified for SSP within the previous 8 weeks and this included waiting days. Between 13 March 2020 and 25 March 2022, SSP was also paid from the first qualifying day if the employee was self isolating on medical advice relating to COVID-19. SSP is £116.75 per week for 2024/25. SSP is not paid to a number of categories of employees, including:

Contents

If the individual is unable to work due to medical reasons for longer than 28 weeks, entitlement to SSP ceases, but the person may be entitled to Employment and Support Allowance.

Statutory basis

Section 151 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 requires employers to make payments. [2]

International comparisons

The UK's level of Statutory Sick Pay is currently amongst the lowest of all OECD countries. In September 2023 the UK Labour Party announced it would, if elected, reform statutory sick pay in the first 100 days of office, removing the three unpaid 'waiting days' and paying sick pay from day one, removing the lower earnings limit and increasing (to an unspecified amount) what people could claim. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Insurance</span> Tax and social benefit system in the UK, introduced in 1911

National Insurance (NI) is a fundamental component of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It acts as a form of social security, since payment of NI contributions establishes entitlement to certain state benefits for workers and their families.

Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, or Dole, are payments made by governmental bodies to unemployed people. Depending on the country and the status of the person, those sums may be small, covering only basic needs, or may compensate the lost time proportionally to the previous earned salary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Payroll tax</span> Tax imposed on employers or employees

Payroll taxes are taxes imposed on employers or employees, and are usually calculated as a percentage of the salaries that employers pay their employees. By law, some payroll taxes are the responsibility of the employee and others fall on the employer, but almost all economists agree that the true economic incidence of a payroll tax is unaffected by this distinction, and falls largely or entirely on workers in the form of lower wages. Because payroll taxes fall exclusively on wages and not on returns to financial or physical investments, payroll taxes may contribute to underinvestment in human capital, such as higher education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Insurance Contributions Act</span> US federal payroll tax to fund Social Security and Medicare

The Federal Insurance Contributions Act is a United States federal payroll tax payable by both employees and employers to fund Social Security and Medicare—federal programs that provide benefits for retirees, people with disabilities, and children of deceased workers.

In United Kingdom law, the concept of wrongful dismissal refers exclusively to dismissal contrary to the contract of employment, which effectively means premature termination, either due to insufficient notice or lack of grounds. Although wrongful dismissal is usually associated with lack of notice sometimes it can also be caused by arbitrary dismissal where no notice was required but certain grounds were specified in the contract as being the only ones available but none existed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Employee benefits</span> Non-wage compensation provided to employees in addition to normal wages or salaries

Employee benefits and benefits in kind, also called fringe benefits, perquisites, or perks, include various types of non-wage compensation provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries. Instances where an employee exchanges (cash) wages for some other form of benefit is generally referred to as a "salary packaging" or "salary exchange" arrangement. In most countries, most kinds of employee benefits are taxable to at least some degree. Examples of these benefits include: housing furnished or not, with or without free utilities; group insurance ; disability income protection; retirement benefits; daycare; tuition reimbursement; sick leave; vacation ; social security; profit sharing; employer student loan contributions; conveyancing; long service leave; domestic help (servants); and other specialized benefits.

Sick leave is paid time off from work that workers can use to stay home to address their health needs without losing pay. It differs from paid vacation time or time off work to deal with personal matters, because sick leave is intended for health-related purposes. Sick leave can include a mental health day and taking time away from work to go to a scheduled doctor's appointment. Some policies also allow paid sick time to be used to care for sick family members, or to address health and safety needs related to domestic violence or sexual assault. Menstrual leave is another type of time off work for a health-related reason, but it is not always paid.

The Labor Code of the Philippines is the legal code governing employment practices and labor relations in the Philippines. It was enacted through Presidential Decree No. 442 on Labor day, May 1, 1974, by President Ferdinand Marcos in the exercise of his then extant legislative powers.

Social security in India includes a variety of statutory insurances and social grant schemes bundled into a formerly complex and fragmented system run by the Indian government at the federal and the state level. The Directive Principles of State Policy, enshrined in Part IV of the Indian Constitution reflects that India is a welfare state. Food security to all Indians are guaranteed under the National Food Security Act, 2013 where the government provides highly subsidised food grains or a food security allowance to economically vulnerable people. The system has since been universalised with the passing of The Code on Social Security, 2020. These cover most of the Indian population with social protection in various situations in their lives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social security in France</span> Overview of social security in France

Social security is divided by the French government into five branches: illness; old age/retirement; family; work accident; and occupational disease. From an institutional point of view, French social security is made up of diverse organismes. The system is divided into three main Regimes: the General Regime, the Farm Regime, and the Self-employed Regime. In addition there are numerous special regimes dating from prior to the creation of the state system in the mid-to-late 1940s.

Welfare in France includes all systems whose purpose is to protect people against the financial consequences of social risks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welfare in Finland</span> Overview of welfare in Finland

Social security or welfare in Finland is very comprehensive compared to what almost all other countries provide. In the late 1980s, Finland had one of the world's most advanced welfare systems, which guaranteed decent living conditions to all Finns. Created almost entirely during the first three decades after World War II, the social security system was an outgrowth of the traditional Nordic belief that the state is not inherently hostile to the well-being of its citizens and can intervene benevolently on their behalf. According to some social historians, the basis of this belief was a relatively benign history that had allowed the gradual emergence of a free and independent peasantry in the Nordic countries and had curtailed the dominance of the nobility and the subsequent formation of a powerful right wing. Finland's history was harsher than the histories of the other Nordic countries but didn't prevent the country from following their path of social development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child care in the United Kingdom</span>

Child care in the United Kingdom is supported by a combination of rights at work, public sector provision and private companies. Child care is usually undertaken by the parents, and more often the mother who takes leave from employment. Early childhood education in a crèche or nursery is not freely available from the public sector, while fee-paying pre-schools are.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999 is a statutory instrument, concerning UK labour law, which details the rights to maternity and parental leave for employees in the United Kingdom.

Shared earning/shared parenting marriage, also known as peer marriage, is a type of marriage where partners at the outset agree to adhere to a model of shared responsibility for earning money, meeting the needs of children, doing household chores, and taking recreation time in near equal fashion across these four domains. It refers to an intact family formed in the relatively equal earning and parenting style from its initiation. Peer marriage is distinct from shared parenting, as well as the type of equal or co-parenting that father's rights activists in the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere seek after a divorce in the case of marriages, or unmarried pregnancies/childbirths, not set up in this fashion at the outset of the relationship or pregnancy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bituah Leumi</span> National social security agency in Israel

Bituah Leumi is Israel's national social security agency.

Statutory Maternity Pay is an employee benefit, part of the provision of parental leave in the United Kingdom.

Maternity Allowance is a United Kingdom state benefit for women who are working but not entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">November 1993 United Kingdom budget</span>

The November 1993 United Kingdom budget was delivered by Kenneth Clarke, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons on 30 November 1993. It was the second budget to be presented in 1993, and the first to be presented by Clarke following his appointment as Chancellor by Prime Minister John Major earlier that year. The November 1993 budget was also the first in the modern era to be held in the autumn, the government having decided to move the date of the budget so it could outline its tax and spending plans at the same time.

References

  1. Statutory Sick Pay Department for Work and Pensions
  2. EIM76350 - Social security benefits: statutory sick pay: summary HMRC
  3. Pickard, Jim (2023-09-12). "Angela Rayner pledges higher sick pay under a Labour government". Financial Times. Retrieved September 14, 2023.