Statutory Sick Pay

From 1 January 2023, new legislation entitles employees to Statutory Sick Pay.

This article explains what Statutory Sick Pay is and how to enter it in Sage Payroll.

The Sick Leave Act 2022 entitles full and part-time employees to SSP.

• Paid sick leave for up to 3 days per year. This increases to 5 days in 2024, 7 days in 2025, and 10 days in 2026
• An SSP rate of 70% of their normal daily wages, paid by employers, up to a maximum of €110 per day

To qualify for SSP under the new scheme your employee:

• Must have worked for you for at least 13 weeks before the period of sickness
• Must provide you with a certificate from their GP that states they are unfit to work

To read more about how SSP affects your business, read our Sage Advice blog (opens in a new tab).

To calculate normal daily wages

1. If your employee works a fixed number of hours at a fixed rate:
   • Use their daily wage immediately before the sick leave day
2. If your employee works a variable number of hours at a fixed rate:
   • Use their daily wage had they worked the sick leave day
3. If neither 1 or 2 apply:
   • calculate the average hourly rate of pay from the 13 weeks before the sick leave day. Then multiply this average hourly rate by the number of hours the employee was due to work on the sick leave day. If your employee did not work in those 13 weeks, use the 13-week period ending on the day they last worked.

You can use the Average Earnings and Working Hours report to help with the calculation.

 NOTE: Daily wages include regular bonuses or allowance, but not overtime or commission. 

Enter Statutory Sick Pay

You can enter SSP in Sage Payroll from your first pay run on or after 1 January 2023.

First, you need to create the payment:

1. From Settings, select Payments & Deductions, then Create New Payment.
2. From the Payment Category drop-down menu, select Statutory Pay. The rest of the fields populate for you.
   
3. Select Save.

You've now created Statutory Sick Pay as a payment in Sage Payroll. You can use this payment for all employees.

To pay SSP to an employee

1. From the Edit Pay section of the pay run, select Add Payment, then Statutory Sick Pay.
2. Confirm your employee has provided the certificate. Enter the number of leave days and average daily earnings.
   
3. Select Save.

 You've now added SSP to the employee's pay run. It is only included in their current pay run.

Statutory Sick Pay is one of the legislation changes for the 2023 tax year.

• For information about the other changes, read our article Legislation changes for the 2023 tax year
• Also read our article Domestic violence leave