SSP Maximum Limit Help

dj9911

I’m trying to get my head around the finer points of SSP and I’m confused on one part. I understand the basics of a maximum of 28 days in 3 years if there are no breaks of more than 8weeks/56 days. But what happens when you have reached the maximum?

If you return to work are you eligible for SSP again on your 57th day and if so does it reset and you have a 28 day maximum again? Or is there another set time period, for example, a year. Before you can claim again?

The person in question is over retirement age so he can’t move from SSP to ESA. For financial reasons he will have to return to work. But he is obviously worried in case he can't cope.

chrisbur

dj9911 wrote: »

I’m trying to get my head around the finer points of SSP and I’m confused on one part. I understand the basics of a maximum of 28 days in 3 years if there are no breaks of more than 8weeks/56 days. But what happens when you have reached the maximum?

If you return to work are you eligible for SSP again on your 57th day and if so does it reset and you have a 28 day maximum again? Or is there another set time period, for example, a year. Before you can claim again?

The person in question is over retirement age so he can’t move from SSP to ESA. For financial reasons he will have to return to work. But he is obviously worried in case he can't cope.

Firstly you refer to there being a 28 day maximum for SSP There is a 28 week maximum for payment of SSP, though if the employee worked only one day a week that 28 weeks would be covered by 28 days of work but each day would receive a full week of SSP payment. Not sure if this is the case or just mis-typing.
Either way the rules are the same.
When someone goes off and SSP is payable they receive no payment for the first three qualifying days and then receive SSP for each qualifying day after that. Qualifying day are usually the normal days a person works so if say they normally work 5 days a week Mon - Fri and go off sick on Monday, they would get no payment for Mon - Wed and two days for Thurs Fri. After that they get a full week for each full week they are off up to a maximum of 28 weeks which would be covered by 140 qualifying days in this case.
If it was the case that they only worked one day a week then they would receive no payment for the first three weeks as there is only one qualifying days per week and then would get a maximum of 28 weeks SSP which would be covered by 28 qualifying days. This would amount to the same amount of SSP as the person on the five day week as the person working only one day a week gets a full week of SSP for each qualifying day.
If someone is getting SSP and they are off again and this new absence forms a PIW and this PIW is linked to the last PIW ie is seperated by 8 weeks or less then they are treated as the same PIW. There are no waiting days and payment starts from the first qualifying day. This linking process can continue for any number of periods of sickness and if those linked PIWS reach the maximum figure of 28 weeks then SSP ends. Also if those linked PIWs cover a period of three years then SSP ends even if the 28 weeks maximum has not been reached.
If a person goes back to work before reaching the 28 week maximum or the three year maximum and works for over 8 weeks then goes off sick a new PIW starts. It does not link, once again there are three waiting days with no payment and the first qualifying day is now day 1 of a new count to the 28 week maximum.
It is not sicknesses that link it is PIWs A piw is only formed when a person is off sick for 4 consecutive days during which no work is done. So if say someone was off sick 3 days a couple of weeks after coming back to work there would be no SSP due. It is within the linking period but no PIW has been formed so it is ignored for SSP purposes.
Just to confuse things a little a PIW can be formed by any four consecutive days. So say a person who works Mon - Fri was off sick Fri - Mon and this was within 8 weeks of an old PIW. We now have a PIW formed 4 days Fri Sat Sun Mon and Friday and Monday are qualifying days so SSP would be payable for them as linked PIWs.

dj9911

Thank you for your reply. My apologies. I did mean weeks not days.

If a person goes back to work before reaching the 28 week maximum or the three year maximum and works for over 8 weeks then goes off sick a new PIW starts. It does not link, once again there are three waiting days with no payment and the first qualifying day is now day 1 of a new count to the 28 week maximum.

Does the same apply if they have reached the 28 week maximum and return to work? I just want to be sure that there isn't a regulation which states that once you have had the maximum 28 weeks you aren't eligable for 3 months, 6 months etc.

chrisbur

dj9911 wrote: »

Thank you for your reply. My apologies. I did mean weeks not days.





Does the same apply if they have reached the 28 week maximum and return to work? I just want to be sure that there isn't a regulation which states that once you have had the maximum 28 weeks you aren't eligable for 3 months, 6 months etc.

If the return was 8 weeks or less away from the last PIW then these would link and SSP would not be payable. If the gap is over 8 weeks then a new PIW would start providing there was no link with some other benefit. I am not fully up to date with linking with other benefits so it would be best to check with whoever pays out the other benefit if there are any special linking rules. In my day a linking letter was issued to employees if there was a linking period which would affect SSP not sure if this is still the case so would be best to check.

TrickyDicky101

OP, since SSP is a cost to the business (it isn't reimbursed by the Government for example) then don't be surprised if this person gets dismissed on capability grounds (ie because he is unable to do the job) should he go off sick again.

dj9911

Thank you. Your advice has been very helpful.


TrickyDicky - Thank you. As it usually is with these situations it's complicated. The way the world is now you can't just have an honest conversation which is usually all that is needed.