The statutory sick pay changes that came in on 6 April 2026 hit shift work harder than office work. If you run a warehouse with part time pickers, zero hours packers and agency staff on top at peak, this is your first winter under the new rules, and the cold and flu season is when a payroll mistake shows up across a whole team at once.
This guide is for the operations or shift manager who signs off absence, not the payroll specialist. It covers what changed, how the new rate works on real warehouse wages and what to put in writing this month.
What the statutory sick pay changes actually did
The Employment Rights Act 2025 changed SSP in three ways from 6 April 2026. The three unpaid waiting days have gone, so SSP is paid from the first day of sickness. The lower earnings limit has gone, so a worker on a handful of hours a week now qualifies where before they got nothing. And the rate is now whichever is lower of £123.25 a week or 80 percent of the worker’s average weekly earnings, according to GOV.UK’s employer guidance on statutory sick pay.
A single full day off sick can now count as a period of incapacity for work. Under the old rules a worker had to be off four days in a row before SSP started at all, which is why a lot of one day absences on a Monday never touched payroll. They do now.
Acas notes that the new Fair Work Agency has enforcement powers over SSP from April 2026, so underpayment is no longer only a matter for a tribunal claim.
How the 80 percent rule works on warehouse pay
The flat rate and the 80 percent figure cross at £154.06 a week. Anyone whose average earnings are above that gets the full £123.25. Anyone below it gets 80 percent of what they earn.
Take a picker on 16 hours a week at the National Living Wage of £12.71. That is £203.36 a week, 80 percent is £162.69, so they get the flat £123.25. Now take a packer who averages 10 hours a week. That is £127.10, 80 percent is £101.68, and that is their weekly SSP. Under the old rules the second worker was below the lower earnings limit and got nothing.
Average weekly earnings are worked out over the eight weeks ending with the last normal payday before the sickness started. For a new starter you use what was actually paid in that window, not what the contract says they might have earned. The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals makes the point that weeks with no shifts still count in the average for a zero hours worker, which pulls the figure down.
Qualifying days are where zero hours rotas go wrong
SSP is a weekly amount, split across the worker’s qualifying days. It is not an hourly rate and it is not reduced because the shift they missed was a short one. The CIPP is clear that this applies to zero hours workers too.
Qualifying days come from the contract first. If the contract is silent, they are the days you and the worker agree. On a rota that changes every week, nobody has agreed anything, and that is where disputes start. If a packer on £101.68 a week has three agreed qualifying days, each day of sickness is worth £33.90 after rounding up to the penny. If you have never agreed the days, you are guessing.
The fix is a short written note for each flexible worker saying which days count as qualifying days for SSP, or how they are set from the published rota. It takes ten minutes a person and saves an argument every time someone rings in sick.
Notice, fit notes and what you can ask for
You can set your own deadline for reporting sickness. If you have not set one, the legal default is seven days. You cannot insist that a worker tells you in person or fills in a special form. If someone reports late without a good reason, you do not have to pay SSP for the days before they told you.
You can only ask for a fit note once someone has been off more than seven days in a row, counting days they would not have worked anyway. Fit notes no longer have to come from a GP. A nurse, pharmacist, physiotherapist or occupational therapist can issue one, and a digital copy is fine. You cannot hold back SSP because the fit note arrived late.
Linked absences, the 28 week limit and holiday
Two periods of sickness are linked if they are eight weeks or less apart. A linked absence carries on from the first one, using the original earnings average, and counts towards the same 28 week maximum. A picker who is off for a week in November and again in early January is on one linked period, not two.
If someone does not qualify, or their SSP is about to run out, you give them form SSP1. GOV.UK sets the deadlines: within seven days of their first day off if they do not qualify, and by the start of the 23rd week if their SSP will end before they are well.
Statutory holiday keeps building up during sick leave, and a worker can choose to take holiday while off sick. That matters at peak, when someone off for three weeks comes back with leave you had not planned for.
Agency workers on your site
If your extra peak staff come through an agency that pays them through PAYE, the agency pays their SSP, not you. It is still worth asking your agency how they handle a worker who rings in sick for a shift on your site, who tells your shift lead, and how quickly you get a replacement. A one day absence is now a paid absence for the agency, and a good agency plans for that rather than letting the shift go short.
What to do this month
Check your sickness reporting line and put the deadline in writing. Agree qualifying days for every flexible worker. Ask payroll to run the 80 percent calculation on your lowest earning staff so nobody is surprised by the first payslip. And brief shift leads that a one day absence now goes through payroll every time.
Flamingo Workforce supplies warehouse and industrial staff across England and Wales. If you want to talk through peak cover, get in touch.