SSP From Day 1: Is Your Business Ready for the Cost Impact?

The Government is strengthening Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) by removing the waiting period, meaning SSP will become payable from the day 1 of sickness absence.

For employers, this goes beyond a simple payroll adjustment. It could mean:

• Increased absence costs
• Higher administrative burden
• Greater scrutiny of absence management practices
• More pressure on managers to apply policies correctly

If your business isn’t operationally prepared, the financial and compliance risks could escalate quickly.

Read on to understand what’s changing and what you should be doing now to protect your organisation.

What’s Changing?

Currently, SSP is only payable from the fourth qualifying day of sickness (the first three days unpaid, unless your company offers contractual sick pay).

The three waiting days will be removed, meaning employers will pay SSP from day 1 of absence. Annual increases in April will see the SSP rate also increase, adding further financial burden, which will be felt by small to medium sized business.

As protections increase, so too will expectations that employers have clear systems, fair processes, and accurate recordkeeping.

These changes are expected to come into force in April 2026.

What SSP from Day 1 Means for Employers

When SSP becomes payable from day one, the financial and operational implications are significant:

• Short-term absences become more expensive.
• Patterns of intermittent absence may increase cost exposure.
• Payroll teams must adapt quickly.
• Managers must understand exactly how and when SSP applies.
• Absence management processes must be watertight.

For small and medium-sized businesses in particular, even a modest increase in short-term absence can materially affect margins.

The question is no longer “Will this affect us?”
It’s “Are we operationally prepared?”

Preparation isn’t just about updating payroll settings. It requires a structured review of your processes, policies, and people capability.

Is Your Absence Policy Fit for Purpose?

Below are the key areas every employer should be reviewing now.

Your sickness absence policy must:

• Reflect updated SSP entitlements
• Clearly define notification procedures
• Outline certification requirements
• Explain how SSP interacts with contractual sick pay
• Set out triggers and monitoring processes
• Describe return-to-work expectations

Outdated policies increase legal exposure and reduce managerial confidence. Now is the time to ensure your documentation is compliant, clear, and enforceable. With day-one SSP, short absences carry greater cost.

You should ask:

• Are your current absence trigger points still appropriate?
• Are you using tools like the Bradford Factor?
• Are managers applying them consistently?

Triggers that are too high may fail to control absence, and those that are poorly applied create inconsistency and potential employee relations issues.

Accurately Recording Absences

This is an opportunity to recalibrate your approach; accurate recordkeeping will become even more critical. Businesses will need to consider:

• How are absences currently recorded?
• Who is responsible for tracking them?
• Is data stored securely and consistently?
• Can you generate reports easily?
• Do you have visibility of patterns and trends?

If you rely on spreadsheets or informal tracking, you may lack audit trails and reporting accuracy. An online absence management platform, such as oneHR can:

• Automatically calculate trigger points
• Track Bradford Factor scores
• Maintain documentation (fit notes, correspondence)
• Provide real-time reporting for managers

This not only improves compliance, but it also improves control.

Policy alone doesn’t manage absence; managers do! We recommend that all businesses assess:

• Do managers understand SSP changes?
• Can they explain entitlements confidently?
• Do they know when absence triggers are met?
• Are they conducting effective return-to-work interviews?
• Do they understand the link between sickness, disability, and reasonable adjustments?

Manager Training

Inconsistent manager capability is one of the biggest risk factors in absence management. With strengthened SSP, training becomes essential, not optional!

Training should cover:

• The updated SSP framework
• Notification and certification rules
• Conducting supportive but structured return-to-work interviews
• Identifying absence patterns
• Applying triggers fairly
• Documentation standards
• Handling sensitive conversations
• When to escalate to HR

Well-trained managers reduce absence costs, improve employee relations, and protect the business from claims.

End-to-End Absence Process

We recommend you review your End-to-End Absence Process, step back and examine your full process:

1. How is absence reported?
2. Who records it?
3. How quickly is it logged?
4. How are trigger alerts generated?
5. When are return-to-work meetings scheduled?
6. How are outcomes documented?
7. How is SSP calculated and processed?

How can HPC help?

For many businesses, implementing these changes internally is time-consuming and complex. HPC are on hand to support, we can:

• Conduct a full compliance gap analysis
• Rewrite or update your sickness absence policy
• Review and recalibrate absence triggers
• Assess whether your current tracking system is sufficient
• Recommend and help implement an absence management platform
• Deliver practical manager training sessions
• Provide ongoing advice for complex cases

Rather than reacting to rising absence costs, you can proactively build a structured, defensible, and cost-controlled approach.

Don’t wait for costs to rise. When SSP becomes payable from day one, short-term absence will immediately carry a greater financial impact. Businesses that rely on outdated policies, informal tracking, or untrained managers may see costs increase quickly.

Those who act now by reviewing processes, strengthening policies, improving recordkeeping, and investing in manager capability will be best placed to manage the change confidently and compliantly.

The reform is coming. The question is: will your absence management framework be ready?

To find out more information or for support managing absence within your company, get in contact with our team of experts.

T: 0330 107 1037

E: contact@hpc.uk.com

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