The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how the statutory sick pay regime is administered, as well as the level of coverage
No one is ever meant to get rich—officially, at least—from a Government support programme. Those who have been on Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) know from first-hand experience just what the Government has and is paying out when someone is signed off sick—and it is not much.
Changes to Statutory Sick Pay
Just as COVID-19 has changed the way that the world and its economies are working, it has also changed how the SSP regime is administered and the level of coverage. Back in March 2020, the Government was forced to change the rules, so that instead of a 4-day wait before being able to claim, a sick employee suffering, self-isolating or shielding as a result of COVID-19 or its symptoms could claim from day one. The change was made for good reason too: the Government clearly did not want unwell people in the workplace because they did not want to take time off.
The change led to a new process—the Coronavirus SSP Rebate Scheme—that permits small businesses to claim back up to 2 weeks of SSP paid per employee under coronavirus-related circumstances. The scheme opened up to claims on 26 May and is accessed via Gov.uk. It is noteworthy that the scheme applies to both current and former employees and, at the point of writing, has no end date.
Eligibility
The scheme has various eligibility requirements and, of course, employers can only use it if they are claiming for an employee who is eligible for sick pay due to coronavirus. In detail, employees must have an employment contract, have worked under the contract, have been off work for 4 or more days (including non-working days), earned an average of £120 or more per week, have given the correct notice and have proven their illness, if it extends for more than 7 days.
The scheme applies date-related timing for employee eligibility, so workers could be claimed for if they started self-isolating on or after 13 March 2020 because someone they live with had coronavirus, were shielding since 16 April 2020, started self-isolating on or after 28 May 2020 because they were notified by the NHS or public health authorities that they came into contact with someone with coronavirus or, since 26 August 2020, an employee has been notified to self-isolate before surgery.
However, on 22 June 2020, the Government removed the shielding status that some employees had been granted as from 1 August 2020. In essence, they will have to attend work unless there is some other medical reason that prevents them from doing so.
» HMRC requires records to be kept for 3 years after the date payment is received for the claim. The records must note the dates the employee was off sick, which were qualifying days, why the worker was off work and their National Insurance number «
It is important to understand that employee SSP did not apply if the employee had been put on furlough. However, if the employee came off furlough and was subsequently off work, they could have been paid SSP that the employer could then reclaim. The detail on how SSP will work with the replacement to furlough, the Job Support Scheme, is, at the time of writing, unclear.
To make a claim, employers should also have had a PAYE payroll scheme that was created and started on or before 28 February 2020 and employed fewer than 250 employees on 28 February 2020 across all PAYE payroll schemes.
COVID-19 has clearly impacted how employees evidence their situation; the result is that they do not have to give their employer a doctor's ‘fit note’ for them to be able to make a claim. That said, the employer can still ask them to provide either an isolation note from NHS 111 if they are self-isolating and cannot work because of coronavirus, or a letter from the NHS or their GP letter telling them to stay at home for at least 12 weeks because they're at high risk of severe illness from coronavirus.
It does not matter how the employee works for the business: full-time employees, part-time employees, those on agency contracts, employees on flexible or zero-hour contracts and those on fixed-term contracts (until the date their contract ends) are all eligible for SSP.
Furthermore, connected companies (and charities) can use the scheme if their total combined number of PAYE employees was fewer than 250 on 28 February 2020.
Procedural matters
It should not be forgotten that the repayment covers up to 2 weeks of SSP, starting from the first qualifying day of sickness if the criteria above is met. The system allows more than one claim per employee, so long as no more than 2 weeks in total is claimed for.
As to what is paid, it is not a king's ransom—from 6 April 2020, it is just £95.85 a week. Furthermore, employers can only claim up to this amount, no matter how much sick pay they actually give the employee. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) offers a sick pay calculator on Gov. uk to help employers with the amounts involved.
HMRC requires records to be kept for 3 years after the date payment is received for the claim. The records must note the dates the employee was off sick, which were qualifying days, why the worker was off work and their National Insurance number. Employers can choose how they keep records of employees' sickness absence. HMRC may want to see these records if there is a dispute over payment of SSP.
How to claim
The claiming process is straightforward and is made via the HMRC portal on Gov.uk. It is a requirement that the SSP must be paid before it is claimed back. While an employer can run the process, their accountant or payroll provider can also undertake the task if they have PAYE authorisation. Authorisation can be granted, if it has not been already, via the Government Gateway at https://bit.ly/2UXjKrx and selecting ‘manage account’.
Employers must be enrolled in PAYE online for employers to do this and the accountant will need to provider their ‘agent ID’.
Those unable to use the online system should have received a letter to this effect from HMRC. However, if nothing has been received or the claim cannot be completed online, employers can refer to https://bit.ly/2UWzATi for help. Alternatively, call 0800 024 1222.
Lastly, bank details where a BACS payment can be paid into must be provided.
To conclude
The process is not perfect and is not going to go that far in helping workers that are off sick. However, it is better than nothing, and employers need to follow the regime to be able to make a successful claim.
Panel. The Trades Union Congress wants action on Statutory Sick PayStatutory Sick Pay (SSP) is part of the modern employment landscape. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) released a report in May 2020, ‘Testing and tracing for COVID-19: how to ensure fair access and manage monitoring in the workplace’, which advocated the case for all workers having access to tests, but with the data being kept secure (TUC, 2020).The report notes that testing and tracing is a central part of the Government's strategy as it seeks to reverse the coronavirus shutdown that saw many workplaces close their doors and workers sent home.However, the TUC believes that the regime cannot just be imposed. Instead, it says that ‘concrete plans from the Government are needed, setting out how it will ensure fair and equal access to testing on the one hand, and responsible and proportionate use of people's data on the other’.Trust is crucial to the process working properly for ‘without it,’ the TUC says, ‘the necessary cooperation of working people to make the testing and tracing system work might not be forthcoming or sustained’. The TUC wants Government-issued guidance on testing, agreed with unions, to employers on their responsibilities to workers.Specifically, the TUC wants strict adherence to existing privacy rules under the General Data Protection Regulation: a clear set of standards to be followed before the implementation of tracing, including within the workplace; and a strengthened legal regime ‘underpinning workers' voice to ensure that trade unions are consulted about the use of technology in the workplace and workers' consent is sought regarding the use of their data’.The TUC adds that, ‘the use and storage of data in the workplace are growing issues for trade unions and workers, especially as more people work from home’.The report makes a number of recommendations that include making clear that workers are entitled to paid time off at their usual rate of hourly pay to attend testing during their usual working hours; the issuing of clear guidance on the additional steps and responsibilities that employers have to workers who are at greater risk and to workers who are family, friends or carers for individuals who are at greater risk; offering guidance on how to travel safely to and from testing sites and which groups of workers should not be expected to travel but should have access to home testing; ensuring that testing sites are easily accessible for workers who do not have independent means of transport and provide mobile testing units that can travel to remote work sites and increased access to home tests; and ensuring that testing site opening hours do not disadvantage shift workers.Lastly, the TUC thinks that the current level of SSP (£95.85 a week) is inadequate. Instead, it wants the weekly level of sick pay to increase to the equivalent of a week's pay at the real living wage.