SSP Employer Help

[milly143]

We are changing our sick pay procedure and payments for employees and I need to write a letter to everyone to confirm the changes. We are currently very generous with sick pay but to save us some money and to make it less tempting to call in sick, we are going to reduce it all to the minimum as per guidlines. The thing is I'm a bit confused. I read the HMRC site that seems to say qualifying days are only those the employee would normally work on but then when I looked at advice for employees it seemed to say that qualifying days are basically every day, whether they would normally work or not. I obviously need to ensure the information I give out is correct so can someone help me?

[dotty.]

How would that work for someone contracted to part time hours?

[milly143]

We don't have anyone part time.

[Buenchico]

Only days which would normally be worked count as 'qualifying days'.

Quote:
"SSP is paid for qualifying days. These are the days that you would normally work for your employer under a contract of employment. However, it is not payable for the first three qualifying days. These days are known as waiting days.

Examples:
If you work Monday to Friday and become sick on a Friday your waiting days will be Friday, Monday and Tuesday. If you continue to be sick, SSP will be paid from Wednesday.

If you work Thursday and Friday and become sick on a Friday your waiting days will be the Friday of the week that you are first sick and the Thursday and Friday of the next week. If you continue to be sick, SSP will only be paid from the Thursday of the following week".

Source:
http://www.direct.gov...llorinjured/DG_175843

Chris

[milly143]

Thanks Chris. I saw the following quote on the DirectGov site,

"•you're sick for at least four days in a row (including weekends and bank holidays and days that you do not normally work)"

Do you agree this seems to conflict, your comments or am I just reading it wrong? (I believe you are correct, it's just confusing)

[Buenchico]

Let's say that an employee phones in sick on Thursday morning, with a stomach bug. They're off on Friday as well so, as a concerned employer, you ring them up on Friday evening and ask how things are. You're told that they're now feeling much better and you can expect to see them on Monday morning.

Then, on Monday, they slip and break their leg on their way to work, resulting in them being off work for several weeks. Under those circumstances, Monday is the first qualifying day, not the third, because they weren't continuously sick from Thursday to Monday. That's why it's important that the period of sickness must include any non-working days, even though those days can't be qualifying days.

Chris

[milly143]

OK! That makes much more sense. Thanks very much for taking the time to explain that to me.

[thugulike]

If you are planning to change terms and conditions I would recommend you speak to ACAS.

[mike11111]

Are you sure about that, Chris? I would contend that someone is sick until he physically returns to work, just as if the stomach bug had flared up again on Monday, despite what he may have said over the phone on Friday.