How London employers are managing employee absence after SSP changes - London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

Statutory sick pay in the UK changed in April 2026 by removing the three-day waiting period and introducing day-one entitlement. Lower-paid employees became eligible for SSP calculated against earnings rather than being excluded by the previous earnings threshold. Multi-site employers with retail, hospitality, or distributed service teams across London boroughs face added strain because absence tracking is often handled through site-level spreadsheets or email chains. Payroll now must determine whether the flat weekly rate or 80% of average weekly earnings applies for each worker, including shift-based, part-time, and zero-hours staff. Short absences must be recorded and processed from day one, increasing volume for HR and payroll. Fragmented records also create audit-trail and compliance risks, with inconsistencies and version-control issues emerging across locations.

"Statutory sick pay in the UK changed in April 2026. The three-day waiting period went. Day-one entitlement arrived, and lower-paid employees became eligible for SSP calculated against earnings rather than excluded by the old earnings threshold. For multi-site employers in London running retail sites, hospitality venues, or distributed service teams across boroughs, those changes landed on absence processes that were already stretched."

"Flat-rate SSP had one number applied everywhere. The April 2026 model works differently. Payroll teams now need to know whether the flat rate or 80% of average weekly earnings applies for each individual worker. Shift-based staff, part-time workers, zero-hours workers. All different. All requiring individual assessment. Day-one entitlement removes the buffer the waiting period provided. Short absences that previously fell below the threshold now need to be recorded, assessed, and processed from the first day."

"The businesses most affected are those still running absence tracking through site-level spreadsheets or email chains. When payroll needs to apply the lower of the flat weekly rate or 80% of average weekly earnings across ten locations with varied contract types, fragmented records are not just inefficient. They are a compliance risk. HMRC can ask for accurate SSP records where evidence is needed."

"Manual spreadsheets split across locations make producing a clean audit trail slow and unreliable. Each site develops its own recording habits. Version-control problems follow. Discrepancies appear at payroll run, when fixing them costs more time than preventing them would have. When absence data sits in separate systems at each location, inconsistencies build over time."

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