Statutory Sick Pay for agency temps: who pays, when it starts, and whether it ends with the assignment

A temp rings in sick on Monday morning, three weeks into a twelve-week assignment. The client wants someone to cover by lunchtime. Your payroll team wants to know whether the temp gets paid for the days off. Under the rules that took effect on 6 April 2026, the answer is often yes, from the first day, and it is the agency that pays.

Is the temp entitled at all?

GOV.UK's guidance on how different employment types affect Statutory Sick Pay deals with agency workers directly. Agency workers who count as "employed earners" and meet the other conditions are eligible. An employed earner is someone gainfully employed in Great Britain under a contract of employment, or someone supplied by an agency to work under the supervision, direction and control of the client.

That second limb catches most temps on an agency's own payroll, whatever their contract is called. The client supervises and directs the work, the agency pays the temp through PAYE, and so the agency is the one that pays SSP. If an umbrella company employs the temp, it is the umbrella that runs the payroll; your supply chain contract should say so plainly.

The general eligibility rules on GOV.UK are short: the person must be classed as an employee for SSP, have done some work for the employer, and have been ill for at least one full working day. They must usually tell the employer within the deadline set, or within 7 days if none is set.

How much, and from when

GOV.UK gives the rate as £123.25 a week, or 80% of normal weekly earnings if that is lower. It is paid for up to 28 weeks, for all the full days the person would normally have worked. Since 6 April 2026 there are no unpaid waiting days and no minimum earnings level, as our hospitality guide to SSP for part-time staff sets out.

At the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour:

SSP is paid per qualifying day, so a full-time temp on a five-day week gets £123.25 divided by 5, which is £24.65 a day. Three days off sick costs the agency £73.95. Before April 2026 the first three days were waiting days, so the same absence cost nothing. Employers cannot reclaim SSP from HMRC.

When it ends: the contract decides

This is the part that matters most to an agency. GOV.UK says:

• Temps with an overarching contract that continues between assignments are entitled to SSP for the whole period of incapacity until that contract ends, for reasons other than avoiding SSP.
• Temps whose contract does not continue between assignments are entitled to SSP until the assignment ends, again for reasons other than avoiding SSP.

Eligibility starts from the first day the temp has done some work under the contract. The guidance also allows for SSP on a future assignment that starts within 8 weeks. Ending an assignment early because the temp is sick, in order to stop SSP, is exactly what the "other than avoiding liability" wording is aimed at. Write down the real reason any assignment ends.

Separate spells of sickness link if each lasts more than one full working day and they are 8 weeks or less apart. Linked spells count towards the same 28 weeks.

When a temp does not qualify

If a temp does not qualify for SSP, the employer guide says you must send them form SSP1 within 7 days of their first day off sick. The same form is needed when SSP ends while the person is still ill. Missing it is an easy failure for a busy desk, because the temp may have already moved on.

What to put in your process

1. Record each temp's contract type in the CRM: overarching or assignment-only. It sets the SSP end date.
2. Check the temp has done some work under the contract before the absence.
3. Work out the daily SSP rate from the temp's normal pattern, not the client's.
4. Diary the SSP1 deadline whenever SSP is refused or stops.
5. Price sick days into the margin; the temp margin calculator has room for it, and the key information document guide covers what temps are told about pay.

Overlyft builds AI staff who join your payroll and compliance team: they pick up the sick call, check the temp's contract type and hours, and prepare the SSP figure and any SSP1 for a person to approve.

This is general information for Great Britain, not legal advice. Check GOV.UK and the temp's own contract before you decide.