SPM110600 | Statutory Sick Pay (SSP): general information - qualifying days (QDs)

QDs are the only days for which SSP can be paid. They must be agreed by both the employee and employer.

They are usually the days of the week on which an employee is required to work, be available for work or normally work by their contract. Bank holidays do not interrupt the normal pattern of QDs.

If an employee works a rota system covering several weeks the QDs in each week of the rota may be different. However, the employee and employer may agree that the same days in every week are QDs.

There must be at least one QD each week.

If the employer and employee cannot agree the QDs, regulations provide for the QDs to be

• the days on which the employer and employee agree that the employee is/was required to work under the contract, or

• a Wednesday if the employer and employee agree that there is/was no day the employee is/was tequired to work, or

• every day of the week except those on which they agree that none of the workforce were required to work. If none of the workforce are required to work for the whole week, then every day should be considered a QD.

Section 154 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act (SSCBA) 1992 or 150 of the SSCB(NI)A 1992

Example

An employee works Monday to Friday and is unfit for work from Saturday to Thursday:

The QDs would normally be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

The Period of Incapacity for Work (PIW) would be the six days Saturday to Thursday but the working days would be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

SSP would be payable for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

A PIW can include non-working days, such as weekends but working days must be QDs.