SSP during coronavirus

steakpie01

I have family members who work in a small business (<10 staff). They have been told that as a consequence of this, they are not eligible for the recent day 1 SSP if self isolating. Is this the case? 

calcotti

There is no mention of an exception for small employers in the government announcement https://www.gov.uk/employers-sick-pay/entitlement
The government have also said that small business employers will be able to recover the cost of SSP from the government https://www.gov.uk/government/news/emergency-bill-to-strengthen-coronavirus-covid-19-response-plans. A small business is one with less than 250 employees. Your family members employer is therefore not going to lose any money through this measure - although it may present a cash flow issue as they presumably have to pay the SSP before they recover it (unless government are going to allow it to be offset against the monthly NI/tax payment.
see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-bill-what-it-will-do/what-the-coronavirus-bill-will-do#managing-the-deceased-with-respect-and-dignity

We want to ensure the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) provisions support people in complying with this request and that they have retrospective effect from 13 March 2020. By ensuring that people receive SSP from the first day that they are off work, we will ensure that those who are unwell or have been instructed to self-isolate can do so without the fear of losing pay. This will be an important measure in the event of a severe outbreak. By refunding small businesses, we hope to alleviate the significant financial burden on employers through increased SSP costs.

The bill is therefore seeking to:

• give the government the power to temporarily suspend the rule that means SSP is not paid for the first 3 days of work that you miss because of sickness. These days are known as waiting days. Lifting this rule will enable us to respond quickly to an outbreak

• enable employers with fewer than 250 employees to reclaim SSP paid for sickness absences relating to coronavirus during the period of the outbreak. This is because the government wants to ensure that businesses are supported to deal with the temporary economic impacts of an outbreak of coronavirus