A guide as to whether employees are eligible to statutory sick pay (SSP)

Employees will not get both company sick pay and statutory sick pay (SSP), but those who are not employed by a company with its own sick pay scheme may well find that they are entitled to sick pay through the statutory sick pay scheme when they are absent from work due to sickness.

Employees working under a contract of service are entitled to SSP if they are sick for at least four days in a row, this includes weekends, bank holidays and days that are not normally worked.

However no SSP payments will be received until forth qualifying day, qualifying days are days on which an employee would normally work for their employer under a contract of employment.

Employees must earn a minimum of £95 a week and notify their employer of the absence as soon as possible.  Details should be provided of the reason for the absence and when the sickness began.

Statutory sick pay is payable for up to 28 weeks but long-term invalidity or disablement benefit is available to some employees who are still off work after six months have elapsed. The weekly SSP rate is set by the government and is currently at £79.15, the daily rate is calculated pro rata from that.

Employees show proof of sickness, in the first instance by contacting their place of work, usually by ringing in and explaining their absence, for longer absences they would require a medical note from a GP.

An employer cannot require an employee to produce a medical certificate for the first seven days of sickness.