Absence management in 2026: Is your organisation ready for the changes?

UK Statutory Sick Pay is changing in 2026. Here’s what your business needs to know so you can meet the changes with the best possible absence management practices in place.

What is Statutory Sick Pay?

In the UK, Statutory Sick Pay, or SSP, refers to the statutory entitlement that provides income to employees who are off work due to sickness or injury.

Under current legislation, SSP is:

paid from day four of an employee’s sickness absence, with the first three days being unpaid
paid at a fixed weekly rate of £118.75 as of 2025, regardless of an employee’s usual salary
paid to employees who earn an average of at least £125 per week as of 2025, meaning anyone earning less than that does not qualify

How is Statutory Sick Pay changing in 2026?

As part of the UK government’s Employment Rights Bill, the proposed changes to SSP are designed to make it more accessible, flexible and fairer to all employees.

From April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay will become a day one right, meaning employees will be entitled to receive it from the first day of their sickness absence. The first three unpaid days will be scrapped.

The lower earnings limit (i.e. earning at least £125 per week at present) will be also scrapped, making all employees who previously didn’t qualify for SSP eligible. That includes people on low wages, part-time contracts, and/or irregular working hours.

Statutory Sick Pay will also be based on earnings, rather than a flat rate for everyone. That means SSP will align more closely to an employee’s usual income, which aims to create a fairer system, particularly for those on lower wages.

What do these changes mean for employers?

To prepare for these changes, it’s important that employers review their absence management policies and practices, as well as their payroll, to help adjust to these changes more smoothly.

Key considerations include:

Budgeting for increased SSP costs. Overall sick pay costs will go up, given that SSP will now start from day one and no longer be paid at a fixed rate
Updating HR and payroll systems to reflect the new structure
Reviewing and updating existing absence management policies, to ensure compliance
Reviewing current absence processes, making sure that absence is handled fairly, inclusively and accurately by line managers, with additional training given if needed

Improving absence management processes

Given the upcoming changes, it’s vital that organisations tighten up their absence management processes – handling all cases of sickness absence with care and consideration.

Logging and tracking every instance of absence is key, giving you an accurate picture of who is absent in your organisation, when they are absent, and crucially, why.

That isn’t to scrutinize an employee’s absence – we all get ill occasionally and time off to recover is necessary – but understanding why your employees are taking absence could help to uncover individuals who may need more support. It could even help point to larger issues within different teams, departments, or locations within your organisation.

By managing absence effectively in this way, you can identify patterns and take action before any issues become problematic – potentially helping to decrease your organisation’s absence rates.

To improve upon your absence management processes, you can consider:

Ensuring every absence is logged via a secure system, along with a reason for the absence
Checking that line managers are aware of the policies and procedures, and feel equipped to consistently adhere to them
Refreshing and re-sharing your absence policies with every employee
Re-sharing what employees should do if they need to call in sick – including who they should contact, how and when
Training and upskilling line managers on how to have conversations about mental health and wellbeing with their teams

Action points like the above will help to strengthen your absence management, which will benefit your organisation and your employees in time for the SSP changes.

It ensures that absences don’t go unnoticed, that you are able to resource plan more effectively, offer appropriate support to absent employees that may need it, and identify any problem areas that require intervention.