Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme

The Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme goes live on Tuesday 26 May for employers to recover the costs of paying coronavirus related SSP to employees for eligible periods of sickness starting on or after 13 March 2020.

Employers are eligible to the rebate if they have a PAYE payroll scheme that was created and started before 28 February 2020 and they had fewer than 250 employees (in aggregate across group companies) before the same date.

The claimable rate of SSP is £94.25 per week for periods up to 5 April 2020 and £95.85 per week thereafter.  The maximum claim can cover up to two weeks of SSP and is payable if an employee is unable to work because they:

• have coronavirus; or
• are self-isolating and unable to work from home; or
• are shielding because they’ve been advised that they’re at high risk of severe illness from coronavirus
  
  

If employers have paid contractual sick pay in excess of the rates of SSP then the rebate is limited to the statutory rates detailed above.  A doctor’s fit note is not required; any SSP paid for non-coronavirus relates sickness does not qualify for the rebate.
Employers can claim back from both the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme for the same employee but not for the same period of time for that employee.

How to claim

If Ashgates already provide a payroll service to you, then you need take no further action, as Ashgates payroll team will make the claim on your behalf when preparing your payroll.

If Ashgates don’t provide a payroll service to you, HMRC have released the following information to help you prepare to make a claim through the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme.
As you prepare to make a claim, please note:

• The online service to reclaim the SSP paid will be available from 26 May 2020.
• To use the online service you will need the Government Gateway user ID you got when you registered for PAYE Online. If you did not register online you will need to enrol for the PAYE Online service.  Click here for a link to this service.
• you can make the claim yourself even if you usually use an agent
  
  

Information you will need before you make a claim
You will need to have the following available to make the claim:

• your employer PAYE scheme reference number
• contact name and phone number of someone HMRC can contact if we have queries
• UK bank or building society details (only provide bank account details where a Bacs payment can be accepted)
• the total amount of coronavirus SSP you have paid to your employees for the claim period - this should not exceed the weekly rate that is set
• the number of employees you are claiming for
• the start date and end date of the claim period
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Records you must keep
You must keep the following records for 3 years after the date you receive the payment for your claim:

• the dates the employee was off sick
• which of those dates were qualifying days
• the reason they were off work - if they had symptoms, someone they lived with had symptoms or they were shielding
• the employee’s National Insurance number
  
  

You can choose how you keep records of your employees’ sickness absence. HMRC may need to see these records if there’s a dispute over payment of SSP.

Should you have any questions or need further advice in this matter please contact us.