Statutory sick pay for dental nurses and receptionists in 2026/27: £123.25 a week, the 80% rule, and what a week off costs the practice

A nurse is off with flu on a Tuesday and the practice manager has to know two things by the end of the day: what the practice owes, and who covers the chair. The first is set by statute. GOV.UK says an employee can get "£123.25 a week Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) or 80% of your normal weekly earnings - whichever is lower", for up to 28 weeks.

The figures below use the 2026/27 weekly rate on the GOV.UK pages we read. Commentary from payroll firms says that from April 2026 SSP is payable from the first day of illness and no longer has a lower earnings limit. We could not confirm that from the primary source: the GOV.UK eligibility page we read lists the tests as being an employee, having done some work for the employer and having been ill for at least one full working day, and says nothing about an earnings limit or waiting days. Check your payroll provider's current guidance before you rely on either point.

What GOV.UK says the rule is

The pages say, in the words we read:

• SSP is "£123.25 a week" or "80% of your normal weekly earnings", whichever is lower.
• It is paid "for up to 28 weeks".
• "You'll be paid SSP for all the full days you're off sick that you normally would have worked."
• "Your employer will use your average weekly earnings over an 8-week period" to work out the amount.
• The employee must tell you they cannot work "before the deadline they set (or within 7 days if they have not set one)".

The page does not give a daily rate, and we do not state one.

Which limb applies at which hours

The 80% limb only matters for people on low weekly pay. Setting £123.25 equal to 80% of earnings gives £123.25 / 0.8 = £154.06 a week. At the £12.71 National Living Wage (see our guide to dental receptionist and nurse minimum wage from April 2026), that is 154.06 / 12.71 = 12.12 hours a week.

So below about 12 hours the 80% figure applies, and above it the flat £123.25 does. A full-time nurse on £476.63 a week gets about a quarter of normal pay in SSP, so the real cost of absence is the cover, not the sick pay. Averages over 8 weeks will differ from a flat contract week if hours vary, so a bank-hours receptionist needs the actual average from payroll.

What one week of sickness costs

Take the team in our pension auto-enrolment guide: two nurses on 37.5 hours, receptionists on 20 and 16 hours, and a 12-hour cleaner. If all five were off for a full week:

• two nurses: £123.25 each, £246.50
• 20-hour receptionist: £123.25
• 16-hour receptionist: £123.25
• 12-hour cleaner: £122.02

The total is £615.02 in SSP, against £1,563.34 of normal pay for the same week (476.63 x 2 + 254.20 + 203.36 + 152.52). That is not a realistic week, but the per-person figures scale: each nurse-week of sickness is £123.25 of SSP, and £476.63 of pay is what a locum or agency cost will be compared with. This is before employer National Insurance and any contractual sick pay on top, neither of which we have priced here.

Contractual pay and the surgery maths

SSP is a floor. Many practices pay full pay for a set number of days. Whatever you offer, write it in the contract and apply it the same way to everyone in the same role. The cost of an empty chair is better judged with the surgery hourly rate calculator than from payroll alone, because a lost day of a dentist's list costs far more than a nurse's pay for that day. For the yearly regulator and licence costs that a sick-pay budget sits alongside, see our regulator fees guide.

What to keep on file

1. The date each absence began and ended, and the days the person would normally have worked.
2. When and how the person told you, against the deadline you set (7 days if you set none, per GOV.UK).
3. The 8-week average earnings used.
4. Whether earlier absences link to this one. GOV.UK says linked periods are those 8 weeks or less apart, with a 3-year limit.
5. Any contractual sick pay paid above SSP.

What we could not confirm

We did not confirm the start date of day-one SSP or the end of the lower earnings limit from legislation, the daily rate, how the practice recovers SSP (if at all), or how the 8-week average treats unpaid weeks. Your payroll provider or ACAS can settle those for your case.

Overlyft can set up an AI assistant that logs each sickness report against the contract, works out the 8-week average from payroll exports and drafts the cover request and SSP note for the practice manager to approve.

This is general information, not legal or financial advice.