Sickness

Here is a presentation on Sickness. To start the presentation, click here.

Download the booklet that accompanies the presentation here.

For a member of staff to be eligible to receive statutory sick pay through their employer, they must satisfy a certain eligibility criteria. Firstly, they must have a contract with the employer, and they must be working under that contract
Secondly, the member of staff needs to have been off work for at least 4 consecutive days
As well as the above, to be eligible to statutory sick pay, an employee must be earning a minimum of £120 per week on average
And finally, if the individual is off work for a period of more than 7 days, they will need to provide evidence of their sickness to the employer

The statutory sick pay rate for April 2021 till the end of March 2022, is £96.35 per week. This sum varies annually, and there’s no choice but to pay statutory sick pay if the sick member of staff satisfies the eligibility criteria noted in the previous slide
The number of days the member of staff works does not make any difference to the statutory sick pay, if they earn over the £120 per week threshold on average during their working days, they will be eligible for the full £96.35 per week through the employer
Statutory sick pay is payable for up to 28 weeks, with the first 3 days of sickness being unpaid. You need to be off sick for at least 4 days before being eligible for SSP through the Employer
Tax and national insurance deductions still apply on statutory sick pay as they would on an individual’s normal salary

If an individual has regular periods of sickness, these may be considered as ‘linked’ when it comes to processing their sick pay. To be considered as linked periods of sickness, they must last 4 or more days each, and be 8 weeks or less apart.
The member of staff will no longer be eligible for statutory sick pay through their employer if they have a continuous series of linked periods that lasts more than 3 years

If a member of staff is off sick for a period longer than 7 days in a row, they must provide a fit / sick note
They’ll be able to get a fit note from their doctor, or a hospital doctor
As well as the above, if the employer agrees, a similar document called an Allied Health Professional (AHP) Health and Work Report can be provided by a physiotherapist, podiatrist or occupational therapist instead

If a member of staff is off sick becasue they do not meet the criteria to receive Statutory Sick Pay through their employer, they may be able to claim Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
In order to support the individual’s request for the above, the employer will need to complete a form called SPP1 and give it to the individual. This form is available on the HMRC website, on the link below.

The SSP1 form will need to be sent to the member of staff who is not eligible for statutory sick pay within 7 working days from the commencing date of their sickness period.
If a member of staff’s statutory sick pay ends, again the employer will need to send them the SSP1 form, which will need to be done within 7 days of the end of their statutory sick pay period, or before the beginning of week 23 if the SSP is expected to end before your sickness does.

When a member of staff has been off work due to an illness, the employer can deduct the hours missed off your salary. The employee would receive SSP for the sickness period as long as it over three days.
Staff with zero hour contracts do not have sick days taken off their salary. However, they could be entitled to SSP if they are eligible (this is calculated on average earnings).
For term time only workers, it is important to note that its only the salary element that shold be reduced to reflect the sickness absence. The Holiday element will stay the same

Holiday entitlement is accrued (saved) while an employee is off work due to sickness.
Any unused holiday leave can be carried forward to the following year.
An employee may request to take holiday for the days they’re off work due to sickness, however it is important to note that the employer cannot force employees to take annual leave when they are eligible for sick leave.
A member of staff off on long-term sickness is still entitled to annual leave.

Extended sick pay is when the employer offers more than the minimum amount, which is Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). You do not have to do this, only SSP is mandatory.
For example; a work contract can state that they have 20 full days sick pay, then 20 days half pay then only SSP thereafter. This totally depends on what the employer would like to do.
Employers (Cylchoedd) have the responsibility to keep record of the staff’ sick days.

Everything remains the same with the criteria and process for all employers whether an employee has more than one job.
It is the responsibility of the employer to process the sick leave for that job only. For example; if a member of staff works part-time and the sickness falls on the day the member was not on rota then the employer does not need to do anything. This is the responsiblity of the employer where the member of staff was supposed to be working.
If an employee does not meet the criteria, the employer completes the SSP1 form and the member of staff may be elgible for ESA.