Employers can now use an online service to make claims through the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme to recover Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) payments they have made to current or former employees who were off work on or after 21 December 2021.
Employers are eligible to claim back up to 2 weeks of Statutory Sick Pay if:
- you have already paid your employee’s sick pay
- you’re claiming for an employee who’s eligible for sick pay due to coronavirus (COVID-19)
- you have a PAYE payroll scheme that was created and started on or before 30 November 2021
- you had fewer than 250 employees on 30 November 2021 across all your PAYE payroll schemes
You can check if your business can claim back Statutory Sick Pay paid to employees due to coronavirus (COVID-19) here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-back-statutory-sick-pay-paid-to-employees-due-to-coronavirus-covid-19
What you can claim
The repayment will cover up to 2 weeks Statutory Sick Pay starting from the first qualifying day of sickness, if an employee is unable to work because they:
- have COVID-19 symptoms
- are self-isolating because someone they live with has symptoms
- are self-isolating because they’ve been notified by the NHS or public health bodies that they’ve come into contact with someone with COVID-19
- have been notified by the NHS to self-isolate before surgery for up to 14 days
You can make more than one claim per employee, but you cannot claim for more than 2 weeks in total.
You can claim from the first qualifying day your employee is off work if the period of sickness started on or after 21 December 2021 if your employee:
- has COVID-19
- has COVID-19 symptoms
- was self-isolating because someone they live with has symptoms
If your employee’s absence started before 21 December 2021 you can only claim on or after 21 December 2021.
The maximum number of employees you can claim for is the number you had across your PAYE schemes on 30 November 2021.
How to claim
You must have paid your employees’ sick pay before you claim it back.
You can claim back Statutory Sick Pay related to COVID-19 by using the online service.
To prepare to make their claim, you should keep records of all the SSP payments that they wish to claim from HMRC.
