The rate is the lower of two figures
GOV.UK states the 2026 weekly amount as £123.25, or 80 percent of normal weekly earnings if that is lower. The flat rate is the uprated figure. The percentage is what brings lower-paid employees into a payment that is less than the flat rate. Someone whose average week is £100 receives £80, not £123.25. Someone whose average week is £400 receives £123.25, because 80 percent of £400 is £320 and the flat rate is lower. The comparison is made before the days are counted. Tax and National Insurance can still be deducted from the payment. The calculator shows the statutory figure before those deductions.
Before 6 April 2026 the scheme was built around a flat weekly rate and an earnings test. An employee generally needed average weekly earnings at or above the lower earnings limit, which for the old rule was £125, and SSP started on the fourth qualifying day. HMRC's note on absences that cross 6 April 2026 says the new rules remove that earnings floor and pay SSP from the first full day of sickness. This guide and the calculator follow that later rule only.
Waiting days and the earnings floor
Under the new rules there are no three waiting days. A person who is off for one full day they would have worked can be due SSP for that day, if the other conditions are met. GOV.UK's eligibility page describes an employee who has done some work for the employer and is ill for at least one full working day. The old habit of ignoring the first three qualifying days will underpay an absence that belongs to the new rules.
The lower earnings limit has not disappeared from National Insurance. It has disappeared as a gate for this payment. A low weekly average still matters, because 80 percent of it may be the rate. It no longer answers the yes-or-no question of whether any SSP is due. HMRC's transitional note also describes protection for some people who were already off sick on 6 April 2026 and whose earnings sat between £125 and £154.05 while they were receiving the old flat rate. The calculator does not apply that protection. If the absence started before 6 April 2026, use the transitional note rather than this total.
Qualifying days and the 28-week cap
SSP is paid for qualifying days, the days the employee normally works. A Monday-to-Friday worker has five qualifying days in a week. A three-day worker has three. The weekly rate is divided by that number to get one day's rate, and only qualifying days inside the absence are counted. A Saturday that is not a working day does not add a day's SSP because it falls inside the absence. On a five-day week the daily rate at the flat £123.25 is £24.65, and five such days come back to £123.25. The calculator rounds the daily rate to the penny and multiplies.
The maximum is 28 weeks. The calculator turns that into qualifying days by multiplying 28 by the days in a normal week, so a five-day week stops at 140 paid days and a three-day week stops at 84. GOV.UK treats spells as linked when each lasts more than one full working day and the gap is 8 weeks or less. Linked spells share one 28-week allowance. A continuous series of linked periods that lasts more than 3 years can end entitlement. The page does not store earlier spells. If some of the 28 weeks has already been paid, reduce the days you type.
Notice, fit notes, and company sick pay
You usually have to tell the employer by the deadline they set, or within 7 days if they set none. A fit note is required if you are off for more than 7 calendar days in a row, including days you do not work. The calculator does not check those rules. Agency workers can be entitled. A person getting Statutory Maternity Pay is not entitled to SSP for the same period, and a person who has already had the maximum 28 weeks is not entitled again until the rules allow a fresh entitlement. Someone with two jobs may get SSP from each employer. Run the sum once per job.
Average weekly earnings are normally worked out over 8 weeks. A new starter who has not yet been paid for 8 weeks can still qualify, and GOV.UK tells the employee to ask the employer how the average was worked out. Occupational sick pay is a contract. Many employers pay full wages for a period and use SSP as a floor or offset it. This figure never subtracts company sick pay and never adds it. It is the statutory amount for the qualifying days you enter, under the post-6 April 2026 rate.
A short numerical check keeps the two limbs apart. An average week of £100 pays £80, because 80 percent is lower than £123.25. An average week of £400 pays £123.25, because 80 percent would be £320. On a five-day week the flat daily rate is £24.65, and five qualifying days return to £123.25. Twenty-eight weeks on that five-day pattern is 140 qualifying days, and the calculator stops there. A three-day week stops at 84. None of those caps revive the old three waiting days, and none of them reintroduce £125 as a yes-or-no test. If the absence was already running on 6 April 2026, including the case HMRC describes for some people earning between £125 and £154.05 who were on the old flat rate, leave this total and use the transitional guidance. The sick-pay calculator is this later rule only. Maternity pay for the same week is a different statutory payment, and the two are not added.