Support from an HR consultant in Bury St Edmunds to help you understand the April 2026 SSP changes and protect your bottom line.
I’ve been speaking to a lot of small business owners recently who had no idea the Statutory Sick Pay rules changed back in April.
Some of them have been overpaying staff without realising. Others have outdated policies still sitting in their handbooks.
The changes aren’t dramatic on the surface, but they shift how absence costs land on your business.
If you haven’t looked at your sickness processes since the update took effect, you could already be out of pocket.
Let me walk you through what’s changed and what you need to do about it.
Two changes that came in on 6 April 2026
Two updates to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) took effect at the same time. Both affect how much you pay and who you pay it to.
First, the old waiting days are gone. Previously, an employee had to be absent for four days before SSP applied. That’s no longer the case. SSP now kicks in from day one of any qualifying illness.
Second, the lower earnings limit has been removed. Under the old rules, workers earning below a certain threshold didn’t qualify for SSP at all. That threshold no longer exists. If you employ people on lower-paid or variable contracts, more of your team will now be eligible.
Taken together, these two changes mean that more of your people can claim sick pay, and they can claim it earlier.
How this hits your finances
Under the previous system, you had a built-in buffer. Four waiting days meant short absences didn’t cost you anything in statutory terms. And the earnings threshold meant some of your lower-paid workers simply weren’t covered.
That buffer is gone now.
Every member of staff who phones in sick on a Monday generates a cost from that very first day. If you regularly deal with short-term absence in your team, the financial impact of this shift is real. It won’t break the bank overnight, but if your processes haven’t been updated, those extra costs accumulate quietly over weeks and months.
For businesses with staff on variable hours or lower pay rates, the pool of people who qualify for SSP has widened. You may already be paying out to workers who wouldn’t have been eligible six months ago.
The knock-on effect for your team
Beyond the money, there’s an operational side to consider.
You might notice an uptick in one or two-day absences appearing in your records. In a small team, even a modest increase in short-term absence creates pressure. The people who do turn up end up covering gaps. Managers scramble to rearrange work at short notice.
There’s also the question of how your managers respond. Early, calm conversations about attendance are one of the best ways to stay on top of patterns before they become embedded. Not disciplinary meetings. Just consistent check-ins that show you’re paying attention.
Most small businesses don’t have a process for that. And when absence starts creeping up, the lack of structure becomes obvious.
Five areas to review right now
If your absence processes were built around the old rules, they need updating. Here are the areas I’d recommend looking at first.
1. Your payroll setup
Your payroll system needs to reflect both changes: the removal of waiting days and the removal of the lower earnings limit. If it hasn’t been updated, you risk either underpaying (which creates a compliance issue) or overpaying without being aware of it. Either way, it needs checking.
2. Your sickness absence policy
Have a look at the wording in your current policy. If it still mentions waiting days or a minimum earnings threshold for SSP, it’s out of date. Your managers and employees should be working from the same, accurate version. An outdated policy causes confusion and leaves you exposed.
3. Return-to-work conversations
A brief chat with every employee when they come back from absence is one of the most effective tools available to you. It doesn’t need to be formal or lengthy. It just needs to happen consistently, every single time someone returns. When it does, it sends a clear message that absence is noticed and managed.
4. How you track attendance
If you’re not recording absence data in a consistent way, you won’t spot patterns developing until they’ve already become a problem. You need a simple, reliable method of logging who’s off, when, and for how long. Without that, you’re managing blind.
5. Manager confidence
Your line managers are the first people to see when absence increases. They need to feel comfortable having those early conversations about attendance. Not jumping straight to formal action, but equally not avoiding the subject altogether. A bit of guidance on how to handle these situations goes a long way.
Questions worth asking yourself
It’s worth taking ten minutes to honestly assess where you stand:
- Has your payroll been updated to account for SSP from day one of absence?
- Does your written sickness policy still reference the old waiting days or earnings limit?
- Do your managers have a consistent process for welcoming people back after time off?
- Are you recording absence data in a way that lets you spot trends early?
- Would your managers feel confident raising attendance concerns with a team member?
If the answer to any of those is no, or you’re not sure, it’s time to take a closer look.
How we can help with your HR consultancy services in Bury St Edmunds
An experienced HR consultant can go through your sickness absence policy and make sure it reflects the current rules. We can tighten up your attendance management processes so nothing falls through the cracks. And we can support your managers so they feel confident having those early conversations about absence, without avoiding them or overreacting.
We help you stay compliant and reduce the financial risk that comes with getting this wrong.
Let’s have a conversation
If your absence processes haven’t been reviewed since April, now is a good time to sort that out. As an outsourced HR consultant in Bury St Edmunds, I can take a look at what you’ve got in place and help you update it quickly and practically.
Get in touch for a confidential chat and we’ll talk you through how we can support your business.
