Sick pay

It’s a government mandated sick pay scheme that only certain workers are eligible for.

If you receive an average gross weekly wage of at least £118 (£120 from 6th April 2020) and you are classified as an employee then you will be eligible.

Your average gross weekly wage is calculated on the basis of averaging out your weekly wages over the 8 week period before you start your sick leave, starting from the date of your last pay cheque before you start sick leave.

Most workers are employees. There are a number of tests to determine if someone is an employee but a few things that would strongly suggest you were would be if: 

• You pay your income tax through PAYE. PAYE is the system your employer uses to take Income Tax and National Insurance contributions before they pay your wages or pension.

• You are required to work regular minimum number of hours and you are told how, when and where to work and are provided with the equipment, tools and materials you need to work 

• You get paid annual leave and have to ask permission to take your annual leave 

Only if you’re off sick for more than 7 days in a row, including non-working days. 

You will receive £94.25 per week (£95.85 from 6th April 2020) but you will only get this from the 4th consecutive day of your absence. This equates to £18.85 per day (£19.17 from 6th April 2020). This means that for the first week of work you miss due to illness, you will only receive £37.70 (£38.84 from 6th April 2020) and only in the second week will you get £94.25.

If you are advised (by a Public Health England (PHE) self isolation notice issued by a doctor or by NHS 111) to self-isolate then you will still only get SSP but you will get it from day one, rather than day 4 of your absence. 

If you have not been advised to self isolate but you choose to do so anyway because you suspect you might have Coronavirus or you are afraid of contracting it then you probably won’t get SSP or if you do it’ll only be from the 4th consecutive day of your absence.

Up to a maximum of 28 weeks.

You can contact the HM Revenue and Customs statutory payment dispute team:

Telephone: 03000 560 630 (Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 5pm and Friday 8.30am to 4.30pm)

Textphone: 0300 200 3212 (Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm)

If you’re self employed or employed but don’t earn at least £118 per week (£120 from 6th April 2020) then you can apply for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Universal Credit. You can find information on how to do so here.

Some workers have an Occupational Sick Pay (OSP) scheme which covers part or all of your wages when you are too ill to work. Details of how much you’ll get and for how long can be found in your contract. 

If you do not have an Occupational Sick Pay scheme you may be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). 

To be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay you must be an employee who earns an average gross weekly wage of at least £118 (£120 from 6th April 2020). This comes to £94.25 per week. 

If you are eligible for Statutory Sick Pay you will get £18.85 per day (£19.17 from 6th April 2020) and if you have been advised to self-isolate due to COVID-19 by Public Health England (PHE) or by someone you spoke to by calling 111 you’ll receive Statutory Sick Pay from day one of your absence. 

That said if you are advised to self-isolate, we recommend you request that your employer pays your wages in full for any period of self isolation. If they refuse then contact UVW.

If you have not been advised to self-isolate due to Coronavirus by Public Health England (PHE) or by someone you spoke to by calling 111, but you choose to self-isolate anyway because you are ill, whether with Coronavirus or another illness, you’ll likely only receive Statutory Sick Pay from day four of your absence. However, your employer may choose to pay you Statutory Sick Pay from day one even if you haven’t been advised to self-isolate if the reason for your self-isolation is because you think you might have Coronavirus.

That said, if you choose to self-isolate because you think you might have Coronavirus we recommend you request that your employer pays your wages in full for any period of self isolation. If they refuse then contact UVW.