During this world changing pandemic many employees are forced to take sick leave due to the corona-virus. The government are supporting employers who are having to pay sick pay.
Employers who have been paying employees for periods of sickness starting on or after 13th March 2020 are entitled to recover the statutory sick pay (SSP) amounts prescribed by the government, under the Coronavirus sick pay rebate scheme (SSPRS). (£94.25pw for 2019/20 and £95.85pw for 2020/21)
Who is eligible?
SSPRS can be used by employers who:
claim SSP for an employee, who would in normal circumstances be eligible to sick pay, due to corona virus.
on the 28th of February had fewer than 250 employees on their PAYE payroll scheme.
Al types of employment contracts are covered by SSPRS, including:
Full-time employees
Part-time employees
Employees on agency contracts
Employees on flexible or zero-hours contract
Entitlement to SSP is based on average earnings in the eight weeks prior to the absence reaching the lower earnings limit for the year in question. Therefore does not matter if employees on zero-hour contracts were assigned work or not in the week in which they are sick.
Keeping Records
All records of SSP claimed from HMRC should be kept by employer for at least three years by employers, including:
Reasons why each employee was unable to work
Start and end dates of each period of employee being unable to work
Details of the SSP qualifying days when each employee could not work
NI numbers of all employee who have been paid SSP
Corona-virus effects on SSP
Employees who claim SSP come under two categories which have different rights regarding the coronavirus.
Employees who because of COVID-19 were absent from work due to sickness or self-isolated before 13 March 2020.
Employees who on or after 13 March 2020 are because of COVID-19 absent from work due to sickness or need to self-isolate.
This also relates to employees who self-isolate for reasons such as caring for other member of their household, being advised to do a household quarantine or being sick and are 'shielding' in order to protect vulnerable people.
To find out whether they are eligible for SSP, employees who are on sick leave or are self-isolating due to COVID-19 should speak to their employer. While on sick leave or self-isolation they should be paid SSP, although once they are available to work they can be furloughed under the COVID-19 job retention scheme.
COVID-19 SSP evidence
Employees who have COVID-19 or are advised to self-isolate can obtain an ‘isolation note’ by visiting NHS 111 online and completing an online form rather than visiting a doctor.
The 'isolation note' can be also be used as evidence of inability to attend or benefit interview purposes when claiming allowances at Jobcentres.
SSP Rates
Using the governments SSP Calculator, employers can work out an employees sick pay, if their payroll software does not already do so. The amount each employer must actually pay depends on how many 'qualifying days' that the employee works each week.
To find out more on how to claim SSP back as an employer you can check out HMRC's Claim back Statutory Sick Pay paid to employees due to coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance page
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