COVID-19: Sick Pay Support for Small Business

Friday March 20, 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to flood the headlines, the 2020 Budget set out to cushion its impact for the UK's business community. Small and medium-sized enterprises are obviously expected to be the most vulnerable firms whenever the going gets tough, so there's been a flurry of announcements and updates about what the government's going to do for them. You can read up on the latest tweaks to the Budget's business rates, grants and loan schemes here – but it's worth focusing in a little closer on one particular area of support being offered.

While there's been a huge amount of talk about how this new coronavirus is affecting businesses, it's important to remember that it's first and foremost a human crisis. When you're putting people to work, you're taking on some pretty hefty responsibilities. You've got to look out for them, making sure they've got a safe working environment, freedom from discrimination or unfair treatment and almost certainly a pension to look forward to. One key element of taking care of your employees is keeping up with your Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) obligations. Under the SSP system, employees are entitled to £94.25 a week when they're unable to work. After the 6^th of April 2020, that amount's set to go up to £95.85 a week. They can get this for up to 28 weeks in a year, and it's your responsibility as an employer to make sure they do.

The current crisis has shifted the SSP goalposts a little, since a lot of people stand to suffer real hardship as things drag on – potentially for months. For one thing, the requirement for people to be off work sick for 4 consecutive days has been scrapped for now. As things stand, the SSP system will kick in from the first day people have to self-isolate and can't work because of COVID-19. That counts whether they're unable to work because of the disease itself, or simply because they've had to lock themselves away in line with advice from the government. Basically, people can't be punished for doing the right thing, whether they've got COVID-19 symptoms or not.

However, there's a lifeline being flung out for small businesses struggling with a sick or self-isolated workforce. SME employers paying out SSP due to COVID-19 will be reimbursed in full for the payments for up to 2 weeks. In order to qualify for reimbursement, your business needs to employ fewer than 250 people, as of the 28^th of February. Obviously, you also need to be a UK-based firm.

There's going to be some paperwork involved in claiming back your SSP payments. You'll need to keep complete records of all the absences you've suffered as a result of the virus outbreak, along with the SSP that's gone out. If you need proof that the missed days were down to COVID-19, no GP fit notes will be required. Instead, sufferers  will be able to get “isolation notes” from the NHS 111 or NHS websites.

The actual mechanism for getting your SSP payments reimbursed is still in the works. Look for the details to be hashed out over the coming months.

Stay tuned for more updates as plans roll on and the crisis develops. In the meantime, stay safe, stay home if you can and stay on the lookout for more information.