Statury Sick Pay Question

supermonkey

Hi all,

During my probabtionary period, I get Statury Sick Pay.

I had a few days sick and basically lost 3 days wages.

The contract says "Statutury Sick Pay Only" "this is normally not paid until the fourth day of any absence."

I guess I can do nothing about this, but I thought the word "normally" was strange to be in the sentence?!

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks

Mudd14

Company discretion in most cases in relation to full pay.

Normail is strange use as SSP only pays on the 4th day due to having 3 waiting days. They may meen normally in the sense they will only pay if you have a valid sick note?

chrisbur

To get statutory sick pay SSP you have to be off work due to sickness for a period of four consecutive days and no work is done on those four days, this is called a Period of Incapacity to Work PIW The days do not have to be working days so if you normally work Monday to Friday and these were the days that would be paid as SSP if you were off sick, and you were off sick Friday Saturday Sunday Monday this would be a PIW. SSP is paid for qualifying days and these are usually the days you normally work (though not in all cases ) any other days are non-qualifying days. The first three qualifying days in a PIW are called Waiting days and no payment is made for these. So in the example above Friday is a waiting day, Saturday and Sunday are non-qualifying days and Monday is the second waiting day. If you were off for the rest of the week then Tuesday would be your third waiting day and you would be paid SSP for Wednesday Thursday and Friday. You would get one fifth of the weekly rate for each day.
If you are off again and the time between you two periods of sickness is 56 days or less then provided both periods of sickness are PIWs then they are treated as one PIW and you only loose three waiting days in total. So if in the first PIW you had had your three waiting days in the second you would get SSP from the first qualifying day. Remember this is only if both are PIWs and they link by being 56 days or less apart, otherwise it all starts afresh with new waiting days.
I think that they use the term 'normally' because this is very much an oversimplification of the full SSP rules, often it is payable from day 4 but in many cases it is not.

stuvee02

that reply is very helpful Chrisbur but I am a little confused on one point and maybe it is covered by mudd14s reply. Could I appeal for a little clarification?

Is this summary (which assumes this is a first period of illness) correct:

• PIW = 4 consecutive days of no work even if it includes weekends and you don't usually work then.
• Qualifying days = the days you work and would therefore be paid for if sick
• Waiting days (this is the confusion for me) = the first 3 Qualifying days of a PIW

Do I have that right?

sorry if I'm being thick!

Stu

chrisbur

stuvee02 wrote: »

that reply is very helpful Chrisbur but I am a little confused on one point and maybe it is covered by mudd14s reply. Could I appeal for a little clarification?

Is this summary (which assumes this is a first period of illness) correct:

• PIW = 4 consecutive days of no work even if it includes weekends and you don't usually work then.
• Qualifying days = the days you work and would therefore be paid for if sick
• Waiting days (this is the confusion for me) = the first 3 Qualifying days of a PIW

Do I have that right?

sorry if I'm being thick!

Stu

PIW.... yes as you say
Qualifying days.... Usually yes the days you normally work but occasionally other days are agreed on, to be certain you would need to check with employer.
Waiting days.... Yes the first three qualifying days are unpaid waiting days, assuming this does not link to a previous PIW.

As an example you have qualifying days Monday to Friday and are sick from Saturday to Thursday. You are sick for 6 days so you have a PIW. Saturday and Sunday are non-qualifying days, Monday Tuesday and Wednesday are the three waiting days (first three qualifying days) and Thursday is a paid qualifying day at 1/5 of the weekly SSP rate.