Closure of Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme

At present, the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme permits small and medium-sized employers to recover up to two weeks Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for each employee who is off work due to COVID-19 if an employee is unable to work because they:

• have COVID-19 symptoms
• are self-isolating because someone they live with has symptoms
• are self-isolating because they have been notified by the NHS or public health bodies that they have come into contact with someone with COVID-19
• have been notified by the NHS to self-isolate before surgery for up to 14 days.

Employers can make more than one claim per employee but cannot claim for more than two weeks in total.

The Rebate Scheme will close on 17 March 2022 and the effect of the closure means that employers will no longer be able to claim back SSP for their employees’ coronavirus-related absences or self-isolation that occur after 17 March 2022.

Employers have until 24 March 2022 to submit any new claims for absence periods up to 17 March 2022 or to amend claims that they have already submitted.

From 24 March 2022, there will be a return to the pre-pandemic SSP arrangements with SSP no longer being payable from their first day of sickness if people are unable to work because they are sick or self-isolating due to COVID-19.

This is part of the Government’s Living with COVID-19 Plan announced earlier this week.