Statutory Sick Pay Reform 2026: Day-One Rights and What's Changing

Statutory Sick Pay has long had two significant gaps: workers earning below the lower earnings limit received nothing at all, and even qualifying workers had to wait three unpaid "waiting days" before payments started. From 6 April 2026, the Employment Rights Act 2025 removes both restrictions, making SSP payable from the first day of sickness absence and extending eligibility to workers previously excluded by the earnings threshold.

For payroll teams and line managers, this is not a small administrative tweak. It changes who is entitled to SSP, when payments start, and how absence needs to be recorded from day one rather than day four. This guide sets out what's changing and what employers need to do before the reform takes effect.

What is actually changing

Two separate restrictions are being removed at the same time. First, the lower earnings limit — which currently excludes workers earning below a set weekly threshold from SSP entirely — is abolished, meaning eligibility is no longer tied to a minimum earnings level. Second, the three "waiting days" that currently mean SSP only becomes payable from the fourth consecutive day of sickness are removed, so payment starts from day one of a qualifying absence.

Together, these changes mean significantly more low-paid and part-time workers become eligible for sick pay for the first time, and every eligible worker is paid from the start of their absence rather than after a three-day gap. The rate of SSP itself is not the focus of this reform — it is eligibility and timing that change.

Why this matters beyond the payroll calculation

The waiting-day removal in particular changes behaviour, not just arithmetic. Under the current system, an employee with a short illness of one or two days receives no SSP at all, which in practice pushes some employees to attend work while unwell rather than lose pay for an unpaid waiting period — a dynamic that became a well-documented concern during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Removing the waiting days is intended to reduce that pressure and support genuine short-term recovery rather than presenteeism.

For employers, this means absence patterns may shift, and sickness absence policies built around the old three-day threshold — for example, "self-certification" processes pegged to when SSP would previously have started — need to be reviewed rather than simply left in place with the old assumptions baked in.

What employers need to update

• Payroll systems and rules engines. Any payroll configuration that applies the lower earnings limit or a three-day waiting period needs to be updated ahead of 6 April 2026, and tested against a range of absence lengths and earnings levels before go-live.
• Sickness absence policy wording. Staff handbooks and absence policies that describe SSP eligibility or waiting days by reference to the current rules should be revised so they don't misstate entitlement once the change takes effect.
• Manager guidance and training. Line managers who handle short-term absence day to day need to understand that SSP now applies from day one for eligible staff, including staff previously excluded by the earnings threshold — this is a common source of manager error immediately after eligibility rules change.
• Occupational sick pay schemes. Where a company operates an enhanced occupational sick pay scheme that tops up or replaces SSP, HR should check how that scheme interacts with the new day-one SSP entitlement, since the interaction rules may need adjusting.

This reform sits alongside the wider set of April 2026 changes taking effect under the Employment Rights Act 2025, including new parental leave entitlements covered in our guide to day-one paternity, parental and bereaved partner's leave, and tighter holiday pay and leave record-keeping expectations that the new Fair Work Agency is expected to enforce more actively.

A practical implementation timeline

With the change taking effect on 6 April 2026, employers running payroll on standard monthly or weekly cycles should aim to have system updates tested and confirmed by the March payroll run at the latest, so the new rules apply cleanly from the first pay period after the change rather than requiring manual correction afterwards. HR teams should also flag the change to any outsourced payroll provider explicitly rather than assuming it will be applied automatically, and confirm in writing that the provider's system reflects both the removal of the lower earnings limit and the removal of waiting days.

Frequently asked questions

When does the SSP reform take effect?

The changes take effect from 6 April 2026, as part of the wider package of Employment Rights Act 2025 reforms.

Does this change the weekly rate of SSP?

No — this reform changes who is eligible and when payment starts, not the statutory weekly rate itself, which is reviewed separately.

Do employers need to update contracts of employment?

Most employment contracts refer to SSP by reference to the statutory scheme rather than restating the detailed rules, so a full contract reamendment is less likely to be needed than an update to the staff handbook and absence policy, but each employer should check its own documentation.

The removal of the lower earnings limit and waiting days is a genuine expansion of sick pay rights, and getting payroll, policy and manager guidance updated before 6 April 2026 avoids both compliance risk and the administrative mess of correcting SSP payments after the fact. Learnsignal's CPD courses cover this and the other Employment Rights Act 2025 changes taking effect through 2026.