New sick pay rules are already costing you more

Insight from an HR consultant in Ipswich on what the April 2026 SSP changes mean for your wage bill and your absence processes.

The rules around Statutory Sick Pay changed on 6 April 2026.

If you haven't updated your processes since then, your business could already be paying out more than it should be.

Two changes came in at once, and both affect how much absence costs you from the very first day someone calls in sick.

As an HR consultant, I'm already seeing small businesses caught off guard by this. Here's what you need to know and what to do about it.

What actually changed in April

There were two updates to SSP that took effect on the same date.

First, the old waiting days have been scrapped. Previously, an employee had to be off sick for four days before SSP kicked in. That's gone. SSP is now payable from day one of any qualifying illness.

Second, the lower earnings limit has been removed. Under the old system, workers who earned below a certain threshold didn't qualify for SSP at all. That exclusion no longer applies, so a wider pool of your team is now eligible.

Both of these changes landed together. If you employ anyone on lower-paid or variable-hours contracts, you've almost certainly got people qualifying for SSP who didn't before.

How this hits your finances

Under the previous setup, you had a built-in buffer. Four waiting days meant short absences didn't trigger any SSP cost. And the earnings threshold meant some of your workforce simply wasn't covered.

That buffer is gone now.

Every eligible member of your team who phones in sick on a Monday morning creates a cost immediately. Not from day four. From day one.

If short-term absence is something you already deal with regularly, the financial impact of this shift adds up quickly. It's not catastrophic, but if your payroll and processes haven't been adjusted, those extra costs will accumulate without you noticing.

The knock-on effect on your team

Beyond the money, there's a practical side to consider.

You may start seeing more one or two-day absences recorded. In a small team, even a modest increase in short-term sickness puts real pressure on the people who are at work. Someone has to pick up the slack, often at short notice.

Managers need to be comfortable having early, low-key conversations about attendance. Not disciplinary meetings. Just straightforward check-ins that show you're aware of what's happening. Most small businesses don't have that kind of routine baked into how they operate, and it becomes obvious when patterns of absence start forming.

Five things to check right now

If your absence processes were built around the old rules, they're out of date. Here are the areas I'd recommend looking at first.

1. Your payroll setup

Your payroll system needs to reflect both changes: no waiting days and no lower earnings limit. If it hasn't been updated, you could be underpaying staff and creating a compliance problem. Or you could be overpaying without realising it. Either way, it needs checking.

2. Your sickness absence policy

Does your written policy still mention waiting days or a minimum earnings threshold? If so, it's outdated. Your team and your managers should be working from the same current version. An old policy creates confusion and leaves you exposed if there's ever a dispute.

3. Return-to-work conversations

A brief, consistent conversation after every absence is one of the most effective tools available to you. It doesn't need to be formal or heavy-handed. It just needs to happen every single time someone comes back. When it does, it sends a clear signal that attendance matters.

4. How you're tracking absence

If you're not recording sickness absence consistently, you won't spot patterns until they've already become a problem. You can't manage something you're not measuring. Even a simple spreadsheet is better than relying on memory.

5. Whether your managers are equipped for this

Your managers are the first people who notice when absence ticks upward. They need to feel confident having those early conversations without either avoiding them entirely or jumping straight to formal action. That confidence rarely comes naturally, especially in smaller teams where everyone knows each other well.

Questions worth asking yourself

Before you move on, take a moment to honestly consider where you stand:

• Has your payroll system been updated to reflect the removal of waiting days and the earnings threshold?

• When was the last time you reviewed the wording of your sickness absence policy?

• Do your managers routinely have a return-to-work conversation after every absence, no matter how short?

• Could you pull up accurate absence data for the last six months if you needed to?

If the answer to any of those is no, or you're not sure, that's a clear sign your processes need attention.

How HR consultancy services in Ipswich can help

An experienced HR consultant can look at your sickness absence policy, tighten up your attendance management processes, and make sure your managers know how to handle absence conversations with confidence. The goal is to keep you compliant and reduce the cost risk that comes with getting any of this wrong.

You don't need to figure all of this out alone. If you haven't reviewed your absence processes since April, now is the time to do it.

Let's have a conversation

As an outsourced HR consultant in Ipswich, I work with small business owners to sort exactly this kind of thing out. No jargon, no fuss, just practical support that fits your business.

Get in touch for a confidential chat and I'll talk you through how I can help.