Coronavirus: The Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme

2 years, 7 months ago by Oliver Atkinson

SSP Claims

On May 26th, the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme went live, and employers are now able to make a claim if eligible.

You can claim for both the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme for the same employee but not for the same period of time. Claims can be made online for both schemes. Agents can do this on your behalf if they are authorised to do so. If you are not able to make a claim online, HMRC should have contacted you via letter or another alternative way. If you have not received this, please contact HMRC.

Eligibility

All types of employment contracts are able to claim for the scheme if they meet the conditions. These employment contracts include:

• Full time employees
• Part time employees
• Employees on agency contracts
• Employees on flexible or zero-hour contracts
• Fixed term contracts

To be eligible to make a claim for the Coronavirus SSP Rebate Scheme, you have to:

Have an employee who is eligible for sick pay due to coronavirus

Have had a PAYE payroll scheme that was created and started on or before 28 February 2020

Have had fewer than 250 employees on 28 February 2020 across all your PAYE payroll schemes – this means that if you have a connected company and/or charity, you can only claim for fewer than 250 employees across all PAYE payroll schemes

You do not need a sick note or a doctor’s fit note to be able to make a claim, but you can ask your employee to give you either an isolation note from NHS 111 or a letter from the NHS or their GP telling them to stay home for at least 12 weeks due to high risk.

What can be claimed

Only 2 weeks of SSP can be claimed per employee who is unable to work due to:

• Having coronavirus symptoms
• Self-isolating because someone they live with has symptoms
• Self-isolating because they have been notified by the NHS or public health bodies that they have come into contact with someone with coronavirus
• Shielding and have a letter from the NHS or GP telling them to stay at home for at least 12 weeks

You can claim from the first qualifying day you employee is off work if the period of sickness started on or after:

13th March 2020 if your employee had coronavirus or the symptoms, or if someone they live with has symptoms

16th April 2020 if your employee was shielding due to coronavirus

28th May 2020 if your employee has been notified by the NHS or public health bodies that they have come into contact with someone with coronavirus

Keeping Records

You must keep all records of SSP that you’ve paid and want to claim back from HMRC. You must keep the following records for 3 years after the date you receive the payment for your claim:

• The dates the employee was off sick
• Which of those dates were qualifying days
• The reason they said they were off work
• The employee’s National Insurance Number

If you have any queries about the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01273 771122 or visit HMRCs website for more helpful information.