HMRC Statutory Sick Pay Rebate (SSPR) Service is Now Open

A new claims period has opened for employers who paid Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) to their employees for coronavirus-related sickness absences from 21 December 2021.

If you have paid SSP to your employees on or from 21 December 2021 for coronavirus-related sickness absences, you can reclaim up to two weeks’ SSP at the relevant standard weekly rate of £96.35, for any eligible periods.

Only employers with fewer than 250 employees on 30 November 2021 are eligible for support, provided they’ve paid SSP to their employees.

You can still reclaim up to two weeks’ SSP for an employee who has taken time off because of coronavirus, regardless of whether you have claimed for that employee under the previous scheme.

When can you claim for an employee?

The repayment will cover up to 2 weeks SSP starting from the first qualifying day of sickness, if an employee is unable to work because they:

• have coronavirus symptoms
• are self-isolating because someone they live with has symptoms
• are self-isolating because they’ve been notified by the NHS or public health bodies that they’ve come into contact with someone with coronavirus
• have been advised by letter to shield because they’re clinically extremely vulnerable and at very high risk of severe illness from coronavirus
• have been notified by the NHS to self-isolate before surgery for up to 14 days

If your employee’s absence started before 21 December 2021 you can only claim from 21 December 2021.

If your employee is unable to work due to quarantine rules for entering and returning to the UK, they will not qualify for SSP.

Records you must keep

To make a claim you must keep records of SSP that you’ve paid and want to claim back from HMRC.

You must also keep the following records for 3 years after the date you receive the payment for your claim:

• the dates the employee was off sick
• which of those dates were qualifying days
• the reason they said they were off work – i.e. if they had symptoms, someone they lived with had symptoms or they were shielding
• the employee’s National Insurance number

Making a claim

If you are a payroll client, we will already be processing your claim. If we do not process your payroll you can use the online service to claim back coronavirus-related Statutory Sick Pay.