UK SSP over sickness duration.
Total SSP
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Your breakdown
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What Statutory Sick Pay actually pays
Statutory Sick Pay is the legal minimum your employer must pay when you are off sick, and it is far lower than most people expect. It is a flat weekly amount, paid for the days you would normally have worked, for up to 28 weeks per period of sickness. This calculator multiplies the weekly rate by the number of qualifying weeks you enter. The rate is an editable field because SSP is uprated by the government every April, so the box defaults to a recent figure and you should overwrite it with the rate in force for the tax year you are checking. The default shown, £116.75 a week, was the 2024/25 rate, and you should confirm the current figure on the gov.uk SSP page before relying on the total.
Eight weeks off, worked through
Suppose you are signed off for eight weeks at the default £116.75 weekly rate. The tool returns £934.00. That figure looks small for two months away from work, and it is. Spread across eight weeks, SSP replaces a fraction of most people's normal pay, which is why a fit note can put real strain on a household budget.
The bars climb steadily because each week adds the same £116.75. By week eight the running total reaches £934, and it would keep rising on that path to the 28-week ceiling.
Waiting days and the day-4 rule
SSP does not start on day one. The first three qualifying days of any sickness absence are unpaid waiting days, and SSP begins on the fourth consecutive day. To qualify you must be sick for at least four days in a row, including non-working days, and you must normally earn at least the Lower Earnings Limit of £125 a week on average. If two periods of sickness are eight weeks apart or less, they link together, which means you do not serve fresh waiting days for the second spell. This calculator gives the gross entitlement, so if you want a like-for-like comparison against a normal week, knock off the three waiting days at the start.
Where occupational sick pay changes the picture
SSP is only a floor. Many employers run an occupational, or contractual, sick pay scheme that pays full or half salary for a defined period, with SSP usually counted inside that figure rather than on top. Check your contract or staff handbook, because if you have a generous occupational scheme the SSP number here is largely academic for the early weeks and only becomes relevant once enhanced pay runs out. A practical tip: ask HR exactly when occupational pay steps down, so you can see the cliff edge coming and plan around it.
Is SSP taxed?
Yes. Statutory Sick Pay is treated as earnings, so income tax and National Insurance are deducted through PAYE in the normal way. The £934 in the example is a gross figure, and your net receipt will be a little lower depending on your tax code.
What if I am self-employed?
SSP does not apply to the self-employed, because there is no employer to pay it. If you cannot work through illness and meet the conditions, you may be able to claim Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit instead, so check your eligibility for those rather than relying on this calculator. This is one of the quiet costs of working for yourself that new freelancers rarely budget for. A common piece of expert advice is to build a slightly larger emergency fund than an employee would, or to consider income protection insurance, precisely because there is no SSP safety net to fall back on if a long illness keeps you off work.