Statutory Sick Pay from the first day
For a spell of sickness in the 2026/27 tax year, Statutory Sick Pay is no longer held back for waiting days. That is the change people mean by day one. The rest of the scheme did not disappear.
The weekly figure
From 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027 the weekly rate is the lower of £123.25 and 80% of average weekly earnings. A higher wage does not push the week above £123.25. A lower wage can mean the 80% figure is the one you use. The SSP calculator does that comparison for the days you enter, and it rounds a fraction of a penny up in the way the GOV.UK tables do for the flat rate. It estimates one week. It does not build average weekly earnings for you, and it does not link separate spells.
SSP can run for up to 28 weeks. The calculator will note when the weeks you type have already reached that limit. It will not track a real absence history.
What day one does not mean
It does not mean every hour of feeling unwell is SSP. A period of incapacity still has to be a day of sickness that qualifies, and the qualifying days are the days they would have worked. It does not mean you skip evidence. The first seven calendar days can be self-certified. After that, a fit note is the usual evidence. The fit note guide covers may-be-fit and the fact that you do not have to demand a further note saying fit to return when the fit note ends.
From 6 April 2026, SSP is not refused only because earnings sit under the National Insurance lower earnings limit. The lower earnings limit still exists for National Insurance. It is not an SSP eligibility test in this tax year.
A sickness that started before 6 April 2026 and continues across that date has transitional rules. The calculator does not apply them. Use the GOV.UK guidance for those spells.
What you record
Shiftbrook records the absence and keeps the reason with the person and their manager. It does not store the fit note, it does not calculate SSP, and it does not pay it. The timesheet is the hours that were worked around the absence. Approved hours download as a CSV. Sending approved hours to Xero Payroll UK is not available until that connection works end to end.
The source for the manual calculation is on GOV.UK. This post is the plain-English version of the change, not a payment.