Statutory Sick Pay: What You Get When You Are Off Work

This guide is for people who have recently moved to the United Kingdom, started a job here and want to know what happens to their pay if illness keeps them off work. Once you have read it, you will know what the official GOV.UK guidance says about the weekly amount and how long it lasts, which questions it leaves open, and where to find the answers.

• What Statutory Sick Pay is
• Who qualifies
• How much you get and for how long
• Telling your employer and fit notes
• If SSP is refused
• FAQ

What Statutory Sick Pay is

Statutory Sick Pay, usually shortened to SSP, is the legal minimum a worker receives when they are too ill to work. The official GOV.UK guide to Statutory Sick Pay says it is paid by your employer. Newcomers who are used to sickness benefits coming from a state insurer or social security office often find this surprising. In the system described on that page, the money comes from the employer, not from a government office.

Two points from the official page shape everything else. First, you cannot get less than the statutory amount, so SSP works as a floor. Second, you can get more if your company has its own sick pay scheme, which GOV.UK calls an “occupational scheme”. GOV.UK says to check your employment contract to see whether you have one.

The guide is also available in Welsh. GOV.UK publishes a separate guide for employers and notes that agricultural workers have different sick pay rules. People employed in agriculture therefore cannot rely on the general guidance alone.

Who qualifies

Eligibility is usually the first thing a newcomer wants to know, and it is the area where the overview page says least. It confirms that SSP is for people who are too ill to work and that an employer pays it, which links it to employment. It does not list the detailed qualifying conditions, such as any earnings threshold, a minimum length of illness, or rules for short or casual contracts.

Because those conditions are not in the official material this article relies on, we do not state them here. GOV.UK sets them out in the later sections of the same guide. In the first instance, your employer’s payroll or HR team applies them.

Immigration status is a separate matter. The official page does not mention visas, sponsorship or how sickness absence might affect a work visa. Anyone with a specific question about how illness, reduced pay or time off interacts with their immigration permission should speak to an adviser regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) or a solicitor regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

How much you get and for how long

According to GOV.UK, you can get up to £123.25 per week in Statutory Sick Pay. The words “up to” matter: £123.25 is the maximum statutory payment, and not every worker receives that figure every week. The overview does not explain how a lower weekly amount would be worked out.

The same page says your employer pays SSP for up to 28 weeks. It does not say what happens after that, or how separate spells of illness count towards the limit. Those details are outside the overview.

An occupational scheme can change the amount considerably. An employer with its own scheme can pay more than SSP, so two people with the same illness may receive very different amounts. Any company sick pay, including how much it pays and for how long, is set out in your contract or staff handbook. The statutory amount stays as the minimum underneath it. The weekly figure in this guide is the one GOV.UK showed when we checked. If the two ever differ, the live page is the one to follow.

Telling your employer and fit notes

The GOV.UK overview does not explain how or when to tell your employer you are ill, and it gives no deadline. Many employers set out their own reporting procedure in the contract or staff handbook. This normally covers who to contact, how to contact them and by what time on the first day. For a newcomer, that procedure is easier to find in the first weeks of a job than when already unwell.

A fit note is a statement from a doctor or other healthcare professional about whether someone is fit for work. The overview page does not mention fit notes, so it does not say when one is needed or who can issue it. Your employer’s sickness policy says what evidence it asks for, and the detailed SSP rules on GOV.UK explain what the law requires. Fit notes are usually issued through a GP surgery, so people who are new to the UK often find it helpful to know how GP registration works where they live.

If SSP is refused

The overview page does not describe a dispute or appeal process and gives no time limits for one. It does make the starting point clear: if you are entitled, you cannot get less than the statutory amount. So a refusal is usually a disagreement about entitlement. That might be about whether the qualifying conditions were met, or whether the employer received the notice and evidence it required.

A common first step is to ask the employer to explain the reason for the refusal in writing. That reason can then be compared with the contract, the sickness policy and the official guidance. Many disagreements come down to missing paperwork or confusion over dates, and a dated record of when the absence was reported and what was sent can help settle them.

If the disagreement continues, the employer does not have the final say on whether SSP is owed. The route for getting a formal decision is set out in the fuller GOV.UK guidance, not in the overview, and the relevant agency makes that decision. If the refusal is connected to your immigration situation, an OISC-regulated adviser or an SRA-regulated solicitor can deal with that part.

FAQ

How much is Statutory Sick Pay per week?

GOV.UK says you can get up to £123.25 per week in Statutory Sick Pay. It is a statutory minimum, so if you qualify you cannot get less than the statutory amount. Your employer may pay more under its own sick pay scheme.

How long is SSP paid for?

The official page says your employer pays SSP for up to 28 weeks. The overview does not explain what happens after that or how separate periods of sickness are counted. Those details are in the fuller GOV.UK guidance.

Who pays Statutory Sick Pay, my employer or the government?

GOV.UK says your employer pays SSP. Any extra company sick pay also comes from the employer, under the terms of your employment contract, which is where GOV.UK says to check whether such a scheme exists.

Does my visa affect whether I can get SSP?

The official SSP page does not mention visas or immigration status. Questions about how sickness absence or sick pay affects a particular visa are best taken to an OISC-regulated immigration adviser or an SRA-regulated solicitor, who can look at the individual circumstances.

Official sources: gov.uk

Last verified: 4 November 2026 against the official pages linked above. Rules and fees change; the official page always wins.

This is general information, not legal or immigration advice. Immigration advice in the UK may only be given by advisers regulated by the OISC or by solicitors regulated by the SRA.