{"id":6461,"date":"2025-07-03T10:13:31","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T09:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/?p=6461"},"modified":"2025-07-03T09:13:33","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T09:13:33","slug":"is-your-payroll-ready-for-sick-pay-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/is-your-payroll-ready-for-sick-pay-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Is your payroll ready for sick pay reform?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The countdown is on. From April 2026, the Government will overhaul Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) as part of its Employment Rights Bill reforms.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>One of the most immediate and impactful changes is the removal of both the three-day waiting period and the lower earnings limit.<\/p>\n<p>From day one of absence, even your lowest-paid employees will be entitled to SSP. This is a fundamental change in employer obligations, one that many businesses are not yet ready for.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The sick pay status quo is ending<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>At present, SSP only kicks in after three qualifying days of absence, and only for employees earning at least \u00a3123 per week. From April 2026:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>SSP will be payable from the first day of sickness absence.<\/li>\n<li>It will apply to all employees, regardless of how little they earn.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These changes are designed to create a more inclusive sick pay system, but they also produce new cost and compliance pressures for employers.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Why this change could hit your payroll hard<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular, the risks of a financial impact are a real possibility.<\/p>\n<p>If your business employs a high number of part-time, seasonal, or low-paid workers, your payroll costs could increase noticeably.<\/p>\n<p>There is also a danger that, without an absence management system in place, businesses risk misuse or unplanned spikes in sick leave, especially if policies are not reviewed in time.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>How to protect your bottom line before April 2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Although nine months might sound like plenty of time, in business terms, it is no time at all. Here is what you should be doing now:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Review your budgets<\/strong> \u2013 Factor in the potential increase in sick pay costs as part of your 2025-26 financial planning.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Update payroll systems<\/strong> \u2013 Ensure your payroll software can accommodate day-one SSP and low-earner inclusion.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Check contracts and policies<\/strong> \u2013 Your employee handbooks and sickness policies will need to be updated to reflect the new entitlements.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Train managers<\/strong> \u2013 Line managers and team leaders should be clear on the new rules and the process for reporting and managing sick leave.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Forecast absence risk<\/strong> \u2013 Work with us to model different absence scenarios and the associated costs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We can help you understand how these reforms will affect your costs and support you in updating payroll systems.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you are unsure how these SSP reforms could impact your business or simply want a plan in place now, speak with our team today. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The countdown is on. From April 2026, the Government will overhaul Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) as part of its Employment Rights Bill reforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6464,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,125],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6461"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6461"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6462,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6461\/revisions\/6462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}