Advice from an HR consultant in Milton Keynes on what the April 2026 Statutory Sick Pay changes mean for your costs, your processes, and your team.
On 6 April 2026, two changes to Statutory Sick Pay came into effect at the same time.
If you run a small business, both of them affect how much you pay and when you pay it.
You may not have noticed yet, especially if absence hasn't been a big issue for you recently.
But the longer you leave your processes unchanged, the more likely it is that costs are creeping up without you realising.
Here's what you need to know and what to do about it.
What actually changed on 6 April 2026
Two updates to SSP (Statutory Sick Pay) kicked in on the same date.
First, the old waiting days have been scrapped. Previously, an employee had to be off sick for four days before SSP started. That's no longer the case. SSP is now payable from day one of any sickness absence.
Second, the lower earnings limit has been removed entirely. Before this change, workers who earned below a certain threshold didn't qualify for SSP at all. Now they do.
Put those two together and the picture is clear. More of your staff qualify for sick pay, and it starts costing you money from the very first day they're off.
How this hits your finances
Under the old rules, you had some breathing room. Those four waiting days acted as a natural buffer, particularly for short-term absences. And if you employed people on lower-paid or variable-hours contracts, some of them simply fell outside the SSP threshold.
That cushion no longer exists.
Every member of staff who phones in sick on a Monday morning now triggers a payment obligation immediately. If you have team members on part-time or lower-paid contracts, you could now be paying SSP to people who previously weren't eligible.
None of this will break the bank on its own. But if you haven't updated your payroll or your processes, those small additional costs accumulate over weeks and months. It's the kind of thing that only becomes visible when you look back at the numbers at the end of a quarter.
The knock on effect on your team
The financial side is one thing. The operational impact is another.
With SSP starting from day one, you're likely to see more short absences of one or two days appearing in your records. In a larger organisation, that might barely register. In a team of five or ten people, even a small uptick in absence creates real pressure.
Someone has to pick up the work. A manager has to rearrange schedules at short notice. And if it keeps happening, the people who are showing up every day start to feel the strain.
Managers need to be comfortable having early, calm conversations about attendance when patterns start to emerge. Not disciplinary conversations. Just straightforward check-ins that show the business is paying attention. Most small businesses don't have that built into their routine, and it tends to show when absence starts to rise.
Five areas to review right now
If your internal processes were set up before April 2026, they need a fresh look. I'd suggest starting with these areas, in roughly this order of priority.
1. Your payroll setup
Your payroll system needs to reflect both changes: the removal of waiting days and the removal of the lower earnings limit. If it hasn't been updated, you risk either underpaying staff (which creates a compliance issue) or overpaying without being aware of it. Either way, it needs checking.
2. Your sickness absence policy
Have a read through your current policy document. Does it still mention waiting days? Does it reference a minimum earnings threshold for SSP eligibility? If so, it's out of date. Your employees and your managers should all be working from the same current version of this policy.
3. Return-to-work conversations
A brief, consistent conversation after every absence is one of the most effective tools available to you. It doesn't need to be formal or lengthy. It just needs to happen every single time someone comes back. When it's done consistently, it sends a clear message that attendance matters, and it gives you early sight of any issues.
4. How you record and track absence
If you're not logging absence in a consistent way, you won't spot patterns until they've already become a problem. Whether you use a spreadsheet or an HR system, the key is that every absence gets recorded and reviewed regularly.
5. Your managers' confidence
Your managers are the first people who notice when someone's absence starts to increase. They need to feel equipped to have those early conversations without either avoiding them altogether or jumping straight to formal action. A bit of guidance goes a long way here.
Questions worth asking yourself
It can be helpful to take a step back and honestly assess where your business stands. Consider the following.
🟢Has your payroll been updated to reflect the removal of SSP waiting days and the earnings threshold?
🟢 When was the last time you actually read through your sickness absence policy?
🟢 Do your managers know what to say when a team member's short-term absence starts forming a pattern?
🟢 Are you recording every absence, or do some slip through without being logged?
If you're unsure about any of those, it's worth taking action sooner rather than later.
How I can help with this
As part of my HR consultancy services in Milton Keynes, I work with small and medium-sized businesses to get their absence management processes up to date and working properly.
That includes reviewing your sickness absence policy to make sure it reflects the current rules, tightening up your return-to-work and attendance tracking processes, and helping your managers feel confident when those early attendance conversations are needed.
I'll make sure you're compliant and help you reduce the cost risk that comes with leaving things as they are.
If you haven't looked at your absence processes since April, now is the right time to do it. As an outsourced HR consultant in Milton Keynes, I can talk you through exactly what needs updating and how to get it done without it taking over your week.
Reach out for a confidential converstion and we can go from there 📱 0781 3084152 or email 📧 daxa@hrresultsltd.co.uk Taking your HR from 'to do' to 'done'.
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