Statutory Sick Pay calculator
Work out Statutory Sick Pay for a period of absence beginning on or after 6th April 2026. The rate is the lower of the flat weekly figure and eighty per cent of normal weekly earnings.
Your details
Enter normal weekly earnings and how long the absence lasts.
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Figures checked
How the calculation works
Statutory Sick Pay is the lower of two figures: £123.25 a week, or eighty per cent of normal weekly earnings. The employer works out normal weekly earnings over an eight-week period. Whichever of the two is smaller is what must be paid.
It is paid for every full day of sickness that you would normally have worked, and it runs for up to twenty-eight weeks in any one period of sickness.
2026/27 rates and limits
| 2026/27 | |
|---|---|
| Weekly rate | £123.25 |
| Or, if lower, this share of normal weekly earnings | 80% |
| Reference period for normal weekly earnings | 8 weeks |
| Maximum duration | 28 weeks |
| Maximum length of linked periods | 3 years |
The rate applies across the whole United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland.
Worked examples
| Normal weekly earnings | 80% of earnings | Statutory Sick Pay a week |
|---|---|---|
| £520.00 | £416.00 | £123.25 |
| £200.00 | £160.00 | £123.25 |
| £150.00 | £120.00 | £120.00 |
| £120.00 | £96.00 | £96.00 |
In the first two rows eighty per cent of earnings comes to more than £123.25, so the flat figure applies. In the last two it comes to less, so the percentage applies. That two-limb rate is the part most people have not caught up with: it is no longer a single figure that everyone receives.
Important rules and exceptions
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 too.
Telling your employer. You must tell the employer by whatever deadline it has set, or within seven days if it has not set one. Late notice can cost you part of the payment.
Evidence. 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.
When it stops. After twenty-eight weeks, or when the employment ends. Separate spells can be linked, and linked periods cannot run beyond three years. Where an absence looks likely to pass twenty-eight weeks, Employment and Support Allowance is the usual next step, and that conversation is far better started before the twenty-eight weeks are up than after.
It is a floor, not a norm. 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 governs, and the statutory figure only matters once contractual sick pay has run out.
Absences that began earlier. This calculator is for periods of sickness beginning on or after 6th April 2026, when the rules changed. If an absence began before that date, the older rules apply to it and these figures should not be used.
Sources, and when we checked them
Figures checked against GOV.UK on 18th September 2026. Rate and duration: GOV.UK, what you will get. Qualifying conditions, notice and fit notes: GOV.UK, eligibility. Every statutory figure this site uses is listed with its date and source on the rates page.
A fuller explanation sits in the guide to Statutory Sick Pay for 2026/27.