Sick Pay Support 

One of these measures is support for businesses who are paying sick pay to employees that are absent from work due to Covid-19. At the moment businesses have to pay SSP costs directly, but moving forward any SSP payments which will cover up to 2 weeks’ SSP per eligible employee who has been off work because of COVID-19 will be refunded by the government. Refunds will be made for all employees who are not ill but are unable to work because they have been advised to self-isolate in line with Government guidance and SSP will be payable from day 1 instead of the current rule of day 4 for affected individuals.  

This change aims to help ensure that employees don’t lose out financially where they are asked to stay at home to help protect others in the workplace and to support businesses who experience financial disruption.   

 

SSP is currently £94.25 each week, increasing to £95.85 from 6th April 2020. For businesses to qualify, employers will need to have fewer than 250 employees (the size of an employer will be determined by the number of people they employed as of 28 February 2020). 

 

As an employer you should maintain records of any employee absences and payments of SSP in relation to Covid-19 (remember that best practice is that you should be keeping records of all absences in the business and ideally storing this information securely on a HR Database). An important note is that employees will not need to provide a GP fit note, so please do not enforce rules where you will only pay SSP upon medical evidence - as this will only add unneeded pressure on our health services.

 

The government haven’t yet announced the repayment mechanism for employers but will work with employers over the coming months to confirm how refunds will be made.

These new regulations came into force on 13th March 2020 and it is anticipated that the legislation making the rest of these changes will come into force within the coming weeks, so please keep checking our website for important updates or alternatively sign up to our newsletter today.

This is a small step in the right direction to help support smaller businesses. For any advice and support on sick absence relating to Covid-19 n please contact us at Clear Bridge HR today.