The requirement for three waiting days to be served before Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is paid will be reinstated for coronavirus (COVID-19)-related claims from 25 March 2022, unless the government intervenes.
Under standard Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) rules in the UK, employers do not have to pay SSP to an employee until the fourth qualifying day in the Period of Incapacity for Work (PIW). The PIW is defined as a period of sickness lasting four or more consecutive calendar days.
However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government suspended the three-day wait for COVID-related Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), meaning that employers have been obligated to pay SSP from the first qualifying day.
The amendment to the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) rules was made in the Coronavirus Act 2020 which is due to expire after two years. This means that, unless there is an intervention by the government to continue the measure, COVID-related SSP waiting time will automatically revert to three days on 25 March 2022.
Head of the Tax Faculty at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), Frank Haskew, said: ‘The SSP rules were not really designed with a highly infectious global pandemic in mind, which is why the current easements have been welcome.
‘While some employees who are ill from coronavirus or required to self-isolate may be unable to afford not to go to work unless they are paid SSP for the first three days, there are also small businesses where the unreimbursed cost of paying three days’ coronavirus-related SSP to employees is a real burden.’