Guidance on the coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme published
03 April 2020
HMRC has released guidance relating to the scheme that Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced at Budget 2020, which would allow small and medium-sized employers to reclaim the costs of paying Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) to employees affected by COVID-19.
HMRC is working relentlessly to establish the system for reimbursement, as the existing systems are not set up to facilitate payments to employers. Details relating to when the scheme can be accessed and when employers can make claims will be announced as soon as possible.
The Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme will repay businesses the current rate of SSP, up to a period of two weeks from the first day of sickness per eligible employee. This is only where they are absent because they either have coronavirus or cannot work because they are at home, self-isolating. This only relates to pay made to current or former employees for periods of sickness that commenced on or after 13 March 2020.
There is no requirement for employees to provide a doctor’s fit note for employers to make the claim, but they should keep details of the reason that the employee could not work, the start and end dates of each period of absence and details of the SSP qualifying days when an employee could not work. Employers should also make note of the National Insurance number of all employees who received SSP payments.
Any employer can use the scheme if they are claiming for an employee who is eligible for sick pay relating to coronavirus, but not sickness for any other reason, for example, if the employee had broken their arm. The employer must have a PAYE payroll scheme that was created and started, on, or before 28 February 2020. Finally, the employer must have had fewer than 250 employees as of 28 February 2020.
In order to establish if connected companies and charities are eligible for the scheme, they will need to ensure that their total combined number of PAYE employees was fewer than 250 on or before 28 February 2020.
The scheme covers all types of employment contracts, including full and part-time employees, employees on agency contracts and employees on flexible or zero-hour contracts.
HMRC will advise employers when the scheme is due to end.
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