The Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme will allow employers to reclaim SSP paid to current or former employees for coronavirus-related sickness absence that started on or after 13 March 2020.
The Scheme is designed to cover all types of employment contracts, including those on agency, fixed-term and zero-hours contracts.
It is open to those employers who have a PAYE payroll system that was created and started before 28 February 2020 and had fewer than 250 employees before this date.
Eligible employers will be able to claim up to two weeks’ of SSP where the employee is unable to work because they:
- Have coronavirus;
- Are self-isolating and are unable to work from home; or
- Are shielding because they have been advised they are at high risk of severe illness from coronavirus.
Employers may only reclaim the SSP rate, not any additional payments they may have made through contractual sick pay schemes.
Employees do not need to submit a doctor’s fit note in order for the employer to make a claim under the Scheme, but an employer can ask for either an isolation note from NHS 111 or their letter asking the employee to shield for 12 weeks.
Employers may claim under both the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme for the same employee, but they cannot claim both for the same period of time.