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Statutory Sick Pay for your first employee: £123.25 a week or 80% of earnings, which is lower?
GOV.UK sets Statutory Sick Pay at £123.25 a week or 80% of normal weekly earnings, whichever is lower. Five invented pay levels show where the cap bites.
Your shop has grown and you are about to hire a packer. One question comes up before the contract does: if they are off ill, what must you pay?
The GOV.UK page on what you'll get says an employee receives "£123.25 a week Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) or 80% of your normal weekly earnings - whichever is lower." The overview says it is "paid by your employer for up to 28 weeks".
Where the two limits cross
The £123.25 cap and 80% of earnings meet when 80% of normal weekly pay equals £123.25.
123.25 divided by 0.8 is £154.0625. So for normal pay below about £154.07 a week, 80% is the lower figure. Above it, the £123.25 cap is lower. For most full-time packers, the cap applies.
Five invented staff
| Staff member | Normal weekly earnings | 80% of earnings | Cap | SSP for a full week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | £90.00 | £72.00 | £123.25 | £72.00 |
| B | £120.00 | £96.00 | £123.25 | £96.00 |
| C | £154.00 | £123.20 | £123.25 | £123.20 |
| D | £154.07 | £123.256 | £123.25 | £123.25 |
| E | £300.00 | £240.00 | £123.25 | £123.25 |
Check the arithmetic. A: 90 × 0.8 = 72. B: 120 × 0.8 = 96. C: 154 × 0.8 = 123.20, which is under 123.25. D: 154.07 × 0.8 = 123.256, over the cap, so 123.25. E: 300 × 0.8 = 240, far over the cap.
The page says earnings are averaged: your employer calculates the amount using "average weekly earnings over an 8-week period". We have used one steady figure to keep the sums plain.
The most one absence could cost
At the cap, 28 weeks comes to 28 × £123.25 = £3,451.00. That is the ceiling for one person's single stretch of SSP at the full rate, from this source. A more common short absence is far smaller: one full week at the cap is £123.25, and two weeks is £246.50. The page also says "You can get more if your company has a sick pay scheme", and you cannot pay less than the statutory amount.
Why a small shop should plan for it
A shop with one packer has no spare pair of hands in the week before Christmas. If that person is off for a fortnight, you pay £246.50 in SSP at the cap and still need the parcels packed, so the real cost is the cover as well as the pay. Price a temporary packer for the same fortnight and put both numbers in your cash plan before the busy season, not during it.
What to do before the first hire
- Decide whether the contract will say anything beyond the statutory amount.
- Add £123.25 a week to your worst-case staffing sums for a possible absence.
- Read GOV.UK's eligibility page for yourself, since we did not.
- Keep a simple record of absence dates for each employee.
For other costs of a first hire, see the Employment Allowance worked example and the Christmas temp packers minimum wage rates. For quieter weeks, the reorder point calculator helps you plan stock cover.
Overlyft can set up AI staff who join your team, log absence dates, work out each person's SSP from their recent pay, and draft the payroll figures for a person to check and approve.
This is general information, not employment advice. GOV.UK and your payroll provider give the answer for your own staff.
Where this comes from: GOV.UK, Statutory Sick Pay: overview (gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay) and GOV.UK, Statutory Sick Pay: what you'll get (gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay/what-youll-get). Read 27 October 2026. We did not read the eligibility page, so we say nothing about who qualifies, waiting days, how part weeks or daily rates are worked out, or whether an employer can reclaim any of it. The five staff and all pay figures are invented.
AEO Lookup editorial team
We write practical guides for people who run small UK firms, and we check every fact against its source on the date shown. Read how we review, or tell us if something has changed.
