Statutory Sick Pay and Covid-19

Posted on 3rd June 2020 by Streets

HMRC have updated their guidance on the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) Rebate Scheme to reflect that employers can now claim for employees who are self-isolating because they have been notified by the NHS or public health bodies that they have come into contact with someone with coronavirus.

What you can claim…

The repayment will cover up to 2 weeks Statutory Sick Pay starting from the first qualifying day of sickness, if an employee is unable to work because they:

have coronavirus symptoms
are self-isolating because someone they live with has symptoms
are self-isolating because they’ve been notified by the NHS or public health bodies that they’ve come into contact with someone with coronavirus
are shielding and have a letter from the NHS or a GP telling them to stay at home for at least 12 weeks

You can claim from the first qualifying day your employee is off work if the period of sickness started on or after:

13 March 2020 - if your employee had coronavirus or the symptoms or is self-isolating because someone they live with has symptoms
16 April 2020 - if your employee was shielding because of coronavirus
28 May 2020 - if your employee has been notified by the NHS or public health bodies that they’ve come into contact with someone with coronavirus

A ‘qualifying day’ is a day an employee usually works on. The weekly rate was £94.25 before 6 April 2020 and is now £95.85. If you’re an employer who pays more than the weekly rate of Statutory Sick Pay you can only claim up to the weekly rate paid.

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