Form SSP1 Confusion

A fundamental consideration for payroll professionals is the requirement to complete the form SSP1 when an employee is not entitled to receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).  The reason is that the employee may be able to claim income support in another way, such as Universal Credit.

There are various versions of the form SSP1:

This is a form produced by the Department for Communities (DfC) and available on NIdirect.   There is only one version available.

This is a form produced by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and available on Gov.UK.  There are two versions (not forgetting the Welsh translations):

1. An ‘interactive’ one where the employer can complete the form on screen and then print, and
2. One that can be simply downloaded and completed by the employer

At a time when the form is, possibly, being used more than ever, the fact that there are various versions is confusing enough for employers.  However, it has always been that way and we have to put that aside.  It is the accuracy of the forms that we are interested in.  After all, when the employer completes the SSP 1, this provides important information that will enable the DfC or DWP to see if there is an entitlement to benefit / credit.

A recent update to the Great British interactive version has highlighted important issues.  The Gov.UK page indicates that the last time the SSP1 was updated was 06 March 2020 and employers should continue to use the version dated 01/19 – i.e. the reference in the bottom-righthand corner.  Nowhere does it mention that the interactive version actually has a reference 08/20 and I cannot recall getting any notification to say that it had changed.

If an employer chooses to use this version, they should be aware that there are 15 reasons why the employee may be excluded from being eligible to receive SSP.  The version that can downloaded for manual completion has 11 reasons.  The differences are to do with trade disputes (in Great Britain) and the PIW exclusion (in both Great Britain and Northern Ireland):

The exclusion reason ‘You were away from work because of a trade dispute which started before the first day you were sick’ now appears are 3 exclusion reasons:

1. ‘You were away from work because of a trade dispute which started before the first day you were sick’
2. ‘You may get SSP if you were already getting it when the dispute began’
3. ‘You may get SSP if you can show you were sick and had no direct involvement in the dispute– for example this could be a strike, a walkout or a lockout’

This is incorrect.  This is all one exclusion reason.  Reason 1 above is the overriding description, however, reasons 2 and 3 are exceptions to this reason – i.e. the overriding rule is that there is no entitlement to SSP if the employee was away from work as a result of involvement in a trade dispute before the sickness.  However, this does not apply if the individual was already in receipt of SSP or had no involvement in arranging the dispute.

The overriding principle of SSP is that the individual must have formed a Period of Incapacity for Work before the sickness is even considered for payment.  This is a period of sickness that lasts 4 or more consecutive calendar days.  This is regardless of whether the sickness / self-isolation etc is COVID-related or not.  There are no exceptions to this rule, something which has been in place as long as I can remember.  This is where it is all so confusing:

• On the Northern Irish SSP1, there is no mention of the requirement to form a PIW.  Therefore, when a Northern Irish employer excludes the employee from receiving SSP because a PIW hasn’t been formed, the SSP1 must be completed but there is no place to tell the employee whey they cannot be paid
• On the Great British interactive version (with reference 08/20 at the bottom), there is a place for the employer to indicate that the employee has been excluded for this reason.  It is quite right that it is there as an exclusion reason, however, as indicated, this is the version that has the one trade dispute exclusion separated into three
• On the Great British version for download and manual completion (with reference 01/19 at the bottom), there is not an exclusion reason regarding the formation of the PIW.  In this regard, the manual completion GB SSP1 and the Northern Irish version are exactly the same

All of the SSP1 versions that are available are either incorrect or incomplete.  

This is a very complicated position for employers and one that could result in the employee being given information that is incomplete and may delay any State benefit / credit payment.  This is unfair and I have written to the Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC about this.

My advice to employers would be:

• In Northern Ireland, use the SSP1 on the NIdirect Website but manually write that the reason SSP cannot be paid is because a PIW was not formed
• In Great Britain, use the interactive SSP1 on the Gov.UK Website where the option is available.  However, if the reason for not paying SSP is because of a trade dispute, remember to merge the three exclusion reasons into one

A very unacceptable situation through no fault of the employer (so, I’m not sure why I am writing as if it is me that should apologise).

Be careful!