SSP Rebate Scheme reopened

Nicola Cantrill from our payroll department looks at Statutory Sick Pay in the light of developments during the Covid pandemic.

On 21st December 2021, the government re-opened the Coronavirus SSP Rebate Scheme.

When an employee is off for any coronavirus-related reason, you can claim via the Government Gateway up to two weeks of SSP that has been paid out by the company for each employee,

Please note that this is not recovered automatically via the payroll. If you would like our payroll department to make a claim, simply contact them and they will let you know how we set up the process and any costs that will be incurred.

Previous Scheme

The previous portal closed on 31st December 2021 for those who were claiming for Covid sickness prior to 30th September 2021.

Employers cannot claim for the period 1^st October – 20th December, as there was no scheme in place during this time.

Employer Eligibility

Employers are eligible to claim COVID SSP back as long as:

They are UK based
They employed fewer than 250 employees as of 30th November 2021
They had a PAYE payroll as of 30th November 2021
They have already paid their employees Covid SSP

Employee Eligibility

Just like normal sick pay, your employee will need to be eligible to be paid any Covid-19 SSP.

They will need to have an employment contract and to have had done some work under that contract.

They will have been off for four or more days in a row, including non-working days, and will have earned on average £120 per week.

Employees will not qualify for SSP if they are self-isolating after entering or returning to the UK, and do not need to self-isolate for any other reason. You must pay your employee from the first day they are off work. No waiting days will apply.

Reclaiming SSP

You can reclaim up to two weeks of SSP, a total of 96.35 per week (2021/22 Tax year), for each employee. You cannot reclaim if the employee is sick for any other reason.

What you will need to claim and the records you need to keep

To claim the SSP you have paid to your employee due to Covid-19, you will need to know:

the number of employees you are claiming for
start and end dates of your claim period
the total amount of sick pay you're claiming back – this should not exceed two weeks of the set SSP rate
your Government Gateway user ID and password that you were given when you registered for PAYE Online
your employer PAYE reference number
the contact name and phone number of someone who can be reached in case of queries
your UK bank or building society account details (only provide account details where a BACS payment can be accepted). This should include your bank or building society account number (and roll number if it has one); sort code; name on the account; and your address linked to your bank or building society account

You must keep the records below for three years for audit:

Dates the employee was off sick
Details of the specific qualifying days
Reasons for staff absence
National insurance number

How to make a claim

The payroll department of Page Kirk LLP can make the claim on your behalf, so please give us a call if you would like us to do this. We cannot claim the rebate automatically.

The claims portal reopened on 19 January 2022.

If you would like to make the claim yourself, you can do it online following the link below:

If you cannot claim online, you will have received a letter form the HMRC with an alternative way to claim. If this hasn't arrived, please contact HMRC.

After you have made the claim and if it is deemed to be valid, the rebate will be paid into your account within six working days. HMRC will contact you if you have any queries about the claim.

Unfortunately, you cannot check on progress. You can, however, contact HMRC after 10 working days if you haven't yet received your rebate.

HMRC do check claims and if claims are dishonest or inaccurate you can receive a penalty of up to £3,000. Therefore, it is advised you get a specialist to claim on your behalf, so all checks can be done properly and you have peace of mind.

If you would like to discuss anything in this article, simply give us a call on 0115 955 5500 or email enquiries@pagekirk.co.uk.

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