Make no slips with SSP; fingers can be burnt
Page 31
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A warning from John C. Vann to operators on the new sick-pay provisions starting on April 6
UNE 14, 1982, was a day of ome significance for employers nd employees. Until then doc3rs had to provide sickness cerficates for employees without harge under the National lealth Service after three days f illness. Now they do not need ) provide certificates until after le first week. For the period -om the fourth until the seventh ay of illness inclusive, emloyees must certify sickness for lemselves.
From April 6, 1983, employers till be responsible for paying tatutory Sick Pay (SSP) for up ) eight weeks of sickness abence in a tax year. SSP will relace the employee's entitlelent to State sickness benefit, thich will not be payable as )ng as any employer's responibility remains. SSP will be ubject to PAYE income tax and ) National Insurance contribuons.
Employers, however, will be ble to recover the gross mount of any SSP they pay by olding it back from the NI conibutions sent each month to ie Inland Revenue.
The details are contained in le Social Security and Housing enefits Act 1982. The purpose I the long run-in period for SSP from June 1982 to April 6, 983 — is to enable employers ) prepare properly for the lenge. Changes will be needed documentation and records, icluding alterations in contracts f employment or written parti_liars of their main terms.
Help is at hand because the Jles and regulations appear in ooklet NI 227/July 82 issued by le Department of Health and ocial Security. The title is Emfoyers' Guide to Statutory Sick ay, and it's freely available om local DHSS offices or by 3st from DHSS Leaflets, PO ox 21, Stanmore, Middlesex A7 lAY.
It is not possible in these notes give more than a broad utline of the various rules.
Let us, first, look further at 31f-certification. When an emloyee wants either State sick ness benefit (SB) or sick pay from his own employer — occupational sick pay (OSP) — he must certify that his absence was caused by illness. State sickness benefit is at present available after the first three days of illness. So from day four until day seven, the employee must now provide a self-certificate on the official form.
As an employer, you may use the State "self-certificate" for the purpose of your own employees if you wish. A small businessman may, perhaps, be satisfied with the employee's own word. But the DHSS does require the self-certificate or, after the first week, the doctor's certificate. When under statutory sick pay you start paying (in broad terms) the first eight weeks of State benefit, you will be required to prepare the proper documents and to keep full sick pay records. So why not start now?
Who is eligible under SSP? Employees over 16 earning more than the lower earnings limit (currently £29.50 a week — for the tax year 1982/83) absent from work for four or more qualifying days are able to claim, provided they comply with the relevant procedures for notifying the employer of their illness.
Excluded as ineligible is any employee who: 1, is over State retirement age;
2, has done no work for you under his/her contract of employment; 3, "goes sick" while on strike; 4, "goes sick" while on maternity leave; 5, is in legal custody; 6, travels outside the EEC; 7, was taken on for a temporary period of no more than three months; and, 8, "goes sick" within 57 days of claiming sickness benefit, invalidity pension, maternity allowance or, in very limited circumstances, unemployment benefit.
The amount of SSP depends on the employee's normal earnings and will be one of three fixed scales ranging from £25 to £37 a week (but these amounts are being increased). Employees are not entitled to SSP for "waiting days" and can be paid only for "qualifying days".
What are qualifying days? These are the only days which can count as waiting days and the only days for which SSP is payable. It is recommended that you agree with your employees which days of the week will constitute qualifying days; it is obviously sensible to choose your normal working week. Any agreement reached must ensure that there is at least one qualifying day in each week (a week starts on a Sunday).
When a day "qualifies" for SSP, the employee will get the appropriate proportion of his SSP rate. If he is on a five "qualifying day" week, then for each "qualifying day" other than the first three "waiting days" he will receive one-fifth of his appropriate rate.
An employee has to provide reasonable evidence of illness, eg, a self-certificate for spells of four to seven calendar days or a doctor's statement for longer spells. Employers, however, are free to control sickness absence by some other way and they are also free to design and use their own self-certification.
With the employee's consent, the employer can seek an opinion on the individual's medical condition. The DHSS can help where an employee has had at least four self-certified absences in the past 12 months. The employer, after the fourth spell, can advise the DHSS who will write to the employee asking him to report to his doctor the next time he is sick.
What about notification of sickness absence? The employer can fix his own rules within limits. Notification can be required orally (phone) or in writing, or both. In the absence of any rules, an employee must notify his employer in writing of his sickness no later than the seventh calendar day after a qualifying day of absence. However, notification cannot be required by a specific time or day or more frequently than once a week.
Fingers can be burnt under this legislation. Employers should note that penalties apply for the contravention of time limits, records maintenance, and provision of information, not exceeding £200 for any offence or £20 for each day the offence continues.
One haulier wanted to know whether he had to pay SSP on top of his own sick pay scheme. The answer is no. The employer must pay the set amount of SSP for each day for which it is due. But any payments he is already making for the same day will count towards his SSP payment for that day.
If you operate your own sick pay scheme as well as the SSP scheme, the SSP rules do not restrict the rules of your own scheme, which can be quite different if you wish. But you must always pay SSP by the SSP rules. For instance, if you are withholding your own sick pay because of a sporting injury, you cannot withhold SSP for the same reason.