The new Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme that was previously announced by the Government will be launched on 26 May 2020, with a new online system open for employers to recover Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) payments which they have made to their employees as a result of the current crisis.
Employers can claim for repayments at the relevant rate of SSP that they have paid to employees for eligible periods of sickness starting on or after 13 March 2020.
The maximum that employers can claim is the current rate of SSP of £95.85 per week. For the period 13 March 2020 to 5 April 2020 the SSP rate was £94.25 per week. Where an employer pays more than the current rate of SSP in sick pay, they will only be able to reclaim the SSP rate.
The scheme is only available to small or medium sized businesses who have fewer than 250 employees.
The repayment will cover up to 2 weeks Statutory Sick Pay starting from the first qualifying day of sickness, if an employee is unable to work because they:
have coronavirus symptoms
are self-isolating because someone they live with has symptoms
are self-isolating because they’ve been notified by the NHS or public health bodies that they’ve come into contact with someone with coronavirus
are shielding and have a letter from the NHS or a GP telling them to stay at home for at least 12 weeks
You can make more than one claim per employee, but you cannot claim for more than 2 weeks in total.
Employees do not have to give their employers a doctor’s fit note in order to make a claim.
The scheme covers all types of employment contracts, including:
full-time employees
part-time employees
employees on agency contracts
employees on flexible or zero-hour contracts
fixed term contracts (until the date their contract ends.
Interaction with the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)
Employers can furlough any employees who have been advised to ‘shield’ in line with public health guidance and are unable to work from home, under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
You can claim back from both the CJRS and the Coronavirus SSP Rebate Scheme for the same employee but not for the same period of time.
Once furloughed, the employee should no longer receive SSP and would be classified as furloughed. Where an employee has been notified to shield and has not been furloughed, the rebate will compensate up to 2 weeks of SSP from 16 April 2020.
Closure of the Scheme
It has not yet been announced when the scheme will close.