Form SSP1 is the form an employer must give an employee when they cannot get Statutory Sick Pay, or when their SSP has ended or is about to end while they are still ill. The employee uses it to support a claim for Universal Credit or New Style Employment and Support Allowance. The key deadlines are 7 days where SSP is not due or stops unexpectedly, and the start of the 23rd week where SSP will run out at the 28-week maximum. The current version is dated 03/26 and reflects the SSP changes made on 6 April 2026.
What the SSP1 is and who it goes to
SSP1 is a Department for Work and Pensions form, published on gov.uk as "Employer form SSP1: Statutory Sick Pay and an employee's claim for benefit". You give the completed form to the employee. It is not sent to HMRC or to DWP. The form itself says: "When you have completed this form, you must give it to the employee." It also makes clear that it "is not an application for benefit". The employee still has to claim.
The legal duty sits in regulation 15 of the Statutory Sick Pay (General) Regulations 1982. It requires the employer to give the employee a written statement "on a form approved by the Secretary of State", and SSP1 is that form. Gov.uk removed the 2025/26 version on 20 April 2026, so download a fresh copy rather than reusing an old saved PDF. A Welsh version, SSP1W, is also available.
When you must issue it
There are three situations, and each has its own deadline:
- SSP is not due at all. Gov.uk says to send the form "within 7 days of their first day off sick". Regulation 15(2)(b) words it as not more than 7 days after the day the employer is notified of the incapacity. Where the two differ, the regulation governs, but working to the earlier date is safer;
- SSP ends unexpectedly while the employee is still sick. Within 7 days of the SSP ending. A common example is the contract of employment ending during the absence;
- SSP is expected to end before the sickness does. On or before the beginning of the 23rd week. Regulation 15(4)(b)(i) sets this as the 42nd day before entitlement is expected to end at the maximum, which is six weeks before the 28-week cap. This gives the employee time to claim benefit before their income stops.
Regulation 15(1A) allows one fallback. If it is genuinely not practicable to meet the 7-day time limits, the statement must be given no later than the first payday after the deadline. The fallback does not apply to the 42nd-day (23rd-week) deadline. Gov.uk also lets you complete the form early if you already know the absence will last more than 28 weeks.
The reasons listed on the form
The employer completes the "Why you cannot get Statutory Sick Pay" section. You enter the date from which SSP is not payable and tick the reason. The 03/26 form lists:
- ESA. The employee "got Employment and Support Allowance during the last 12 weeks";
- Contract ending. The contract has ended or will be coming to an end;
- Sick after the contract ended. The form warns that SSP is still payable if the employer ended the contract "solely or mainly to avoid paying SSP";
- 28 weeks reached. Either 28 weeks in a row, or 28 weeks in total across linked absences 8 weeks or less apart;
- Pregnancy and maternity. No SSP during the 39-week maternity pay period, or while Maternity Allowance is payable;
- Three-year linking limit. Sick on and off for more than 3 years without a return to work of more than 8 weeks;
- Trade dispute. Away because of a dispute that started before the first day of sickness, with exceptions;
- Legal custody. Sick while in custody, or now in custody or serving a sentence;
- Working outside the UK. Where no employer's Class 1 National Insurance was due on the first day of sickness;
- Not yet started work. The employee has not begun working for you;
- No notification. The employee did not tell you about the sickness.
Older versions differ in two ways. Low earnings is no longer a reason, because the lower earnings limit test was abolished from 6 April 2026. The linking rule now refers to absences of 1 full day or more, "or 4 full days or more if you were sick before 6 April 2026". That reflects the change from the old four-day minimum period of incapacity.
How to fill it in
The form has three employer sections:
- If you are an employer. Name, signature, date, position, contact details, address and stamp. The declaration confirms you will keep paying SSP "up to and including the day before" the date you enter;
- About your employee. Name, address, National Insurance number, payroll number and tax reference number (the form describes this as the PAYE reference). You also say whether you have been paying SSP and the start and end dates;
- Why you cannot get Statutory Sick Pay. The cut-off date and the reason.
On medical evidence, the form asks you to send the employee any fit notes or other medical information covering the period you cannot pay SSP for, and to tick whether you have enclosed it. The employee may need that evidence for their benefit claim.
What happens after you issue it
The employee section points them to Universal Credit and, if they have paid enough National Insurance, New Style Jobseeker's Allowance or New Style ESA. If they disagree with your decision, they are told to ask you for a reason first. They can then contact HMRC's Statutory Payments Dispute team on 0300 322 9422. Record your reasoning when you complete the form, because you will need it if the employee challenges the decision.
Keep a copy with the absence record. The rate and calculation rules behind the decision are covered in our guide to the SSP rate for 2026/27, and pension treatment of sick pay is in is SSP pensionable.
Common mistakes
- Using an old form. Versions before 03/26 still show the earnings test and the old linking wording;
- Missing the 23rd-week deadline. Long-term absences are diarised for the 28-week end date, but the SSP1 is due well before it;
- Refusing SSP for low pay. Since 6 April 2026 there is no earnings threshold. Low earners get 80% of average weekly earnings instead;
- Sending the form to HMRC. It goes to the employee.
The gov.uk SSP employer guide and regulation 15 of the 1982 Regulations are the primary references.
Acumon handles SSP, SSP1s and other statutory payment paperwork as part of its payroll management and outsourced payroll services. If an employee has been off for more than 20 weeks, check now whether their SSP1 is due.