SSP stands for Statutory Sick Pay. If you have been injured at work for example, then you may be entitled to make a personal injury claim. Depending on your contract with your employer, you may be entitled to full pay if you are off work as a result of your injuries.
Alternatively you may be eligible for part pay or you may not be eligible for pay at all. SSP is a payment made to many employees if their employer does not have a sick pay scheme, subject to certain criteria; however it does not provide the same amount of income as an employee’s normal wage.
When you make a personal injury claim, you can claim General Damages which covers your injury and you can claim Special Damages which covers, among other things, loss of earnings. The only difficulty is that most heads of claim are settled at the end of a claim, so if you are out of work with no income, then it can be some time later when you eventually recover your lost earnings. Interim payments (payments made to you before the conclusion of your claim) can be made to cover bills and other immediate losses or difficulties (however there is never a guarantee that the other side will agree to an interim payment).
Your rights to SSP depend very much on the specific wording of your contract of employment. Some employers may have it in their contract to pay employees full pay or part pay during an enforced period of absence. Other employers may simply pay the minimum to comply with the sick pay regulations.
The following is guidance as to whether you qualify for SSP:
- You must be incapable of doing the job that you were employed to do because of sickness or disability for at least four days in a row.
- There has to be a period of entitlement to SSP. This is the actual period of time when you are entitled to claim SSP. It begins with the start of the period of incapacity for work and ends when your employer’s liability to pay SSP ends which could be:
- When you are no longer sick;
- After 28 weeks of SSP;
- If your contract of employment has come to an end;
- If you are taken into legal custody.
- SSP is only paid for qualifying days. These are normally the days when you would have been required to work under the terms your Contract of Employment had you not been sick. SSP is not paid for the first three qualifying days.
- Your average weekly earnings, before tax and National Insurance contributions, must be at least the level of the lower earnings limit.
As with any claim, I would advise you to seek independent legal advice as soon as possible. We are an independent firm of Solicitors who can offer free impartial advice. We deal with all types of personal injury claims.
