Changes to eligibility for statutory sick pay

Implementation date: Not expected before 2026

The Employment Rights Bill includes provisions to make statutory sick pay (SSP) available to all workers. The Bill removes:

• the requirement to earn at least the lower earnings limit; and
• the three-day waiting period for workers to be entitled to SSP.

It is not yet known when these measures will come into force. In its Next Steps to Make Work Pay policy paper, the Government said it expects to begin consulting in 2025 on the various measures covered in the Bill and that it anticipates that "the majority of reforms will take effect no earlier than 2026".