Am I entitled to sick pay from the state when I am absent due to sickness?

To qualify for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) you must have an employment contract and have done some work under that contract, and this includes agency workers and zero-hours workers. 

Under current rules, you must: 

• earn at least an average of £125 per week;
• be sick for four or more consecutive days;
• tell your employer you are sick and provide evidence if asked. 

The first three days of sickness are “waiting days” and you do not receive SSP for these. However, if you have been sick within the previous eight weeks the sickness will be linked and you don’t have to wait again. 

From day 4, you will receive SSP for the days that you would normally work.  

For the first seven days of absence, your employer is not allowed to demand that you provide a medical certificate (known as a ‘Fit Note’) from your GP before paying you SSP. Instead you must be allowed to 'self-certify' – that is, you complete a form provided by your employer stating when you were off sick, and the nature of your illness. After the first seven days, you will need to provide certificates from your GP to cover the whole of your absence in order to be paid SSP.   

SSP is paid at a flat rate, which is normally revised upwards each April in line with the consumer price index.   

The Employment Rights Bill is set to remove the “waiting days” from April 2026 along with the requirement to earn about £125 per week. When that happens, SSP will become payable from day one of sickness absence and those who earn less than £125 per week will get a proportion of the normal SSP rate.