Sick pay - what am I entitled to, and how do I claim it?

MSE_Rosie

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chrisbur

There does seem to be some rather confusing advice regarding the eight week rule for linking PIWs
For example....
"....as long as you meet the qualifying criteria:
....
Eight weeks or more have passed since you last claimed statutory sick pay"

The rule for an eight week gap is completely different to the rule for more than eight weeks, there is no rule for eight weeks or more.

Later there is....
 "If MORE THAN eight weeks have passed since your last period of sick leave"

and
"If LESS THAN eight weeks have passed since your last period of sick leave"

There is no mention of what happens if there are exactly eight weeks between.
Also the gap is measured between PIWs not sick leave.
You can have short periods of sick leave which do not form a PIW and so are ignored for the purposes of SSP, and the PIW can cover non-qualifying days as well as qualifying days.

The rule for linking PIWs is that if the gap between the PIWs is for eight weeks or less then they link; if it is more than eight weeks they do not link.
If they link then the two PIWs are treated as if they are one PIW so you do not have to qualify on the earnings rule, any waiting days already served count towards the three waiting days ( so if all three served in first PIW then SSP starts from first qualifying day ) and the count of SSP days continues.
EDIT  Where it says....
"For example: If you were previously off work for eight weeks, you'll be able to claim SSP for the remaining 20 weeks of your allowance."
If you were off for eight weeks you would not have been paid for eight weeks due to the waiting days.  So if we assume a 5 day week you would have only had 7 weeks and 2 days SSP so have a remaining entitlement of 20 weeks and 3 days.
EDIT ENDS
If they do not link then everything starts over again you need to qualify on earnings and have three waiting days before SSP is paid. You then start with a fresh 28 weeks entitlement.

A couple of minor points 
Regarding "you can't get both contractual sick pay and statutory sick pay at the same time"
There is to my knowledge no rule against this though unlikely in the case of full payment when off sick.  However the NHS (In England and possibly elsewhere) do pay SSP as well as half pay when full pay for sickness has run out. There may be other employers.
The offset of SSP against sick pay has to be done on a daily basis not weekly.
The three waiting days are the first three qualifying days in a PIW 
 

 EDIT To replace original as badly phrased.