Statutory Sick Pay 2026/27
What Statutory Sick Pay is worth this year, who qualifies for it, when it starts and when it stops.
The rate
Statutory Sick Pay is £123.25 a week, or eighty per cent of normal weekly earnings if that is lower. Normal weekly earnings are worked out by the employer over an eight-week period. It is paid for up to twenty-eight weeks.
That two-limb rate is the change most people have not caught up with. It is no longer a flat figure that everyone on Statutory Sick Pay receives. Someone whose normal weekly earnings are £120 receives £96.00, being eighty per cent, rather than the headline £123.25.
Who qualifies
You must be classed as an employee, have done some work for the employer, and have been ill for at least one full working day. Agency workers may qualify as well. You must tell the employer by whatever deadline it has set, or within seven days if it has not set one, because late notice can cost you some of the payment.
If you are off for more than seven days in a row, including days you would not have worked, the employer can ask for a fit note. A general practitioner, hospital doctor, registered nurse, occupational therapist, pharmacist or physiotherapist can issue one, and it may be digital rather than printed.
When it starts and when it stops
It is paid for every full day of sickness that you would normally have worked. It stops after twenty-eight weeks, or when the employment ends. Separate spells of sickness can be linked, and linked periods cannot run for more than three years in total.
Where an absence is likely to run past twenty-eight weeks, Employment and Support Allowance is the usual next step. That conversation is much better started before the twenty-eight weeks are up than after.
Worked examples
| Situation | Weekly Statutory Sick Pay |
|---|---|
| Normal weekly earnings £520 | £123.25 |
| Normal weekly earnings £200 | £123.25 |
| Normal weekly earnings £150 | £120.00 |
| Normal weekly earnings £120 | £96.00 |
In the first two rows eighty per cent of earnings is more than £123.25, so the flat figure applies. In the last two it is less, so the percentage applies. The rule is simply whichever is lower.
It is a floor, not a norm
A great many employers pay contractual sick pay well above the statutory minimum, commonly full pay for a set number of weeks and then half pay. The contract or the staff handbook governs that, and the statutory figure only becomes relevant once contractual sick pay has run out. Check the contract before assuming the statutory figure is what you will receive.
Sources
Figures checked against GOV.UK on 18th September 2026. Rate and duration: GOV.UK, Statutory Sick Pay, what you will get. Qualifying conditions, notice and fit notes: GOV.UK, Statutory Sick Pay, eligibility. Every figure this site uses is listed with its date and source on the rates page.