HMRC has announced that its new online service for employers to claim the cost of employees’ statutory sick pay (SSP) will open for business on 26 May.
Employers normally must foot the bill for paying employees SSP but if their absence is related to coronavirus and meets the conditions below the government will reimburse the cost of up to two weeks’ SSP.
Employers can claim reimbursement of SSP 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 shielding and have a letter from the NHS or a GP telling them to stay at home for at least twelve weeks
You can claim where on or after:
13 March 2020 – your employee had coronavirus symptoms or is self-isolating because someone they live with has symptoms
16 April 2020 – your employee was shielding because of coronavirus
To use the SSP service from 26 May you’ll need the Government Gateway user ID you got when you registered for PAYE Online. If you didn’t register online you’ll need to enrol now. You can do this here
If you can’t find the Government Gateway ID you used it can be recovered by answering a few questions here.
More information about entitlement to claim an SSP rebate is available here.
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