As part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government amended the Statutory Sick Pay (General) Regulations 1982 (SI 1982/894) so that individuals were deemed to be incapable of work and therefore entitled to receive statutory sick pay (SSP) because they were self-isolating or shielding.
The Statutory Sick Pay (General) (Coronavirus Amendment) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/380) were made on 24 March 2022 and come into effect on 25 March 2022. The regulations revoke the “deemed incapacity” provisions entitling those self-isolating or shielding due to COVID-19 to statutory sick pay (SSP).
An individual must now actually be sick or incapable of work to qualify for SSP. Therefore, those who are asymptomatic or only have very mild symptoms will no longer be eligible for SSP even where they test positive.
Regulations allowing SSP from the first day of incapacity, where an individual’s incapacity for work was related to COVID-19, have also been removed. Therefore, an employee will not be entitled to SSP for the first 3 days of absence unless they have already received SSP within the last 8 weeks.
