What is the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme?
Definition of Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme
The Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme was a government initiative to repay employers the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) paid to current or former employees because of coronavirus.
Important: The Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme closed at the end of September 2021, but employers are still able to claim for employees who were off work during the final month of the scheme, so long as they do so on or before 31st December 2021.
More information about the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme is available on the government’s website.
Employers can claim back up to two weeks of Statutory Sick Pay starting from the first ‘qualifying’ day that an employee is sick. A qualifying day is a day on which an employee would usually work.
Employers can claim for SSP paid to employees who were absent because they:
- had symptoms of coronavirus
- were self-isolating because someone they lived with had coronavirus or coronavirus symptoms
- were self-isolating because they’d been notified by the NHS or other authority that they had come into contact with someone with coronavirus
- were shielding and had received a letter from the NHS or a GP telling them to stay at home for at least 12 weeks
- were 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 a total of two weeks for each employee.
Who is eligible for the scheme?
Employers can only claim for employees who were off work on or before 30th September 2021. Employers can use the scheme if they:
- are claiming for an employee who’s eligible for sick pay due to coronavirus
- have already paid the employee’s sick pay
- have a PAYE payroll scheme that started on or before 28th February 2020
- had fewer than 250 employees on 28th February 2020 across all their PAYE payroll schemes
Employers can use the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme to claim for money paid to employees who are on any type of contracts, including:
- full-time employees
- part-time employees
- employees on agency contracts
- employees on flexible or zero-hour contracts
- fixed-term contracts (until the contract end date)
Employers who are also reclaiming wages paid through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme can make claims on both schemes for the same employee but not for the same period of time.
More information on what you’ll need in order to make a claim is available in our guide to making a claim through the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme.
