are you able to withhold Statutory sick pay?

In short the answer is ‘no’ you cannot hold statutory sick pay (SSP) from an employee, but there are a few rules that you should be aware of.

To qualify for SSP an employee must be absent from work due to sickness or incapacity for a minimum of 4 full days. If the employee has worked any time before leaving the office, even a single minute, then this does not count as one of the 4. For example, should an employee go home sick at 10 am on Monday morning then Monday would not count as the first sick day, instead Tuesday would be the first day and only after Friday would SSP kick in. Don’t forgot though that the sick days are any day not just working days, so if an employee is sick on the Friday and is still sick on the Monday then the weekend counts and Monday would become the 4th sick day.

For the first 7 continuous days of sick then an employee can self-certify, this can be done either verbally or in writing (writing would always be preferable to keep a record). For any length of sick leave over 8 days you may require them to get a ‘fit note’ from A GP, however if they do not provide one you still cannot withhold SSP as they may have a good reason for not being able to provide one.

A situation may come up where an employee has been off for an extended amount of time and hasn’t provided a fit note, even after multiple requests. In this situation, as long you feel that there is no reasonable excuse for the lack of fit-note or for the absence, then you can treat it as an unauthorised absence and consider withholding SSP. But be aware that the employee could challenge this decision with HMRC which may determine that SSP is payable.

If you are ever unsure about paying SSP we could recommend getting in contact with your accountant or payroll adviser for their expert advice and knowledge.

Leave a Reply