Young Wrexham

Sick Pay

You get statutory sick pay (SSP) from your employer for up to 28 weeks if you are off work sick and aged 16 and over, if you’re eligible

• You must be able to prove that you cannot work because you are too ill or disabled. Discuss what you need to do with your employer
• The 28 weeks you are off sick do not have to run together. For example, if you are off sick with gaps of eight weeks or less, your days off sick are added together to count towards the 28 weeks. If you are off sick more than once with more than eight weeks in between, the periods you were off sick are not added together and the 28 weeks starts being counted again each time
• To qualify for SSP, you must earn as much each week as the National Insurance lower earnings limit (See National Insurance section)
• If you are self-employed, you are not entitled to SSP
• You cannot get SSP if you are getting maternity allowance or statutory maternity pay
• You will not get SSP for the first three days you are unable to work
• SSP is set at a fixed rate. Check out the UK Government’s website for what you’ll get
• If you are off work longer than 28 weeks, you might be able to claim Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) (and will eventually replaced by Universal Credit)

If you’re not able to get Statutory Sick Pay

If you don’t qualify for SSP, your employer must give you form SSP1 within 7 days of your illness. You can use this to apply for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) instead.

There are different sick pay rules for agricultural workers.

If you are not sure if you are entitled to SSP, talk to your employer or the Citizens Advice Bureau

You can contact the Money Advice Service on 0300 500 5000 (or 0300 500 5555 for Welsh) Mon - Fri 8am-8pm, Sat 9am-1pm. There’s also an online chat function on their site.

You can contact Meic for free via online chat, text (84001) or phone (080880 23456).