Step-by-Step Guide: Setting Up SSP (New Policy)

Setting Up SSP 

From April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) in the UK will be paid from day one of sickness, removing the three unpaid waiting days, and will be available to all employees regardless of earnings, with pay set at 80% of average weekly earnings or a flat weekly rate (whichever is lower). 

If you would like StaffSavvy to process these SSP calculations for you, this article explains how to set it up.

1. Create a New Pay Element

The first thing you will need to do is to set up a pay element with the weekly SSP allowance.

1. From the Dashboard select Pay > Pay Settings > and click the Pay Elements option.
2. Choose Create New Pay Element from the top of the page in the actions bar.
3. Title the pay element ‘SSP (Weekly Value)’.
4. Change the Pay Type to be Paid per Item.
5.  Then, under amount per item, add the weekly amount of £123.25.

2. Configure Absence Policy

1. Navigate to System
2. Select Absence & Breaks
3. Click Manage Absence Policies
4. Choose the policy you want to edit
5. Click Edit Policy
6. Select Edit Sickness

Configure Entitlement

7. Open Entitlement Level One Settings
8. Click Edit Phase
9. Make the required changes as below

10. Click Save phase.

3. Assign Policy to a Contract

1. From the Dashboard select Pay > Contracts > Manage Contracts.
2. Find the correct contract and click Edit
3. Open the Absence Tab
4. Select the policy from the list.
5. Once you have completed the previous steps, click Save.

4. Set Absence Reasons / Flags

1. Go to System
2. Select Absences & Breaks
3. Open Non-Attendance Reasons
4. Either Create a new non-attendance reason or edit an existing one to match the highlighted area below

Adding an absence for a Staff Member

Two Options:

Option 1:

• Go to the employee’s shift
• Change the flag directly

Option 2:

1. Go to Profile
2. Open the Absence Tab

3. Add the absence dates
4. Set ‘Cancel shifts with reason’ to the reason that is linked to the sick policy

5. Choose whether the shifts need to be filled or not

6. Click Save

Calculating the Average Weekly Earnings

Time Entries Report for SSP 

In the system, we have created a custom report called ‘Time Entries Report for SSP.’ 

This report will allow you to enter the dates for the eight-week reference period which will help calculate the average weekly earnings per staff member.

You can find this by going to Reports > Custom Reports. You can enter the report title into the search bar and then select ‘RUN NOW.’

The report will list all time entries within the period chosen that the staff member has worked, including total hours and total amount paid per time entry. You can download this report to Excel to get the total value for each individual. 

Once this is in Excel, you can total the value, divide by the eight weeks and then multiply this by the eighty per cent to get the average.

This report can be filtered as needed. We have added a system-wide filter to remove previous absence payments.