What we know so far about the Statutory Sick Pay scheme

In the past, there has been no legal obligation for Irish employers to offer paid sick leave to their employees. As Ireland is one of only three remaining EU countries that doesn’t have a Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) scheme in place, it is understandable that Irish workers may feel hard done by. Many employees would have gone to work when they were ill as they couldn’t afford to miss a day. Not only is this a lot of pressure to put on your staff, but it is also a public health issue. The Covid-19 pandemic and how it forced many people to stay at home when ill, helped bring Ireland’s need for SSP to the forefront. 

From 1st January 2023, the new SSP law will commence. The SSP scheme will be phased in over the next four years, and each year your employees will be entitled to more paid sick days. Employees will be entitled to the following paid sick days per year: 

• 2023 – 3 days  
• 2024 – 5 days  
• 2025 – 7 days  
• 2026 – 10 days  

Who is entitled to the SSP? 

To be eligible for the Statutory Sick Pay scheme, employees must have worked for their employer for 13 consecutive weeks. To receive SSP, the employee must supply a medical certificate signed by a registered medical practitioner stating that they are, or were, unfit to work.  

How does SSP benefit employers? 

It is understandable that some employers may have apprehensions about the introduction of SSP as the scheme will mean additional costs. However, SSP in the workplace does have its benefits for employers. As previously mentioned, without a sick pay scheme, many employees feel like they are forced to go into work when unwell. This means they will feel less productive and could take longer to recover from their sickness. Not only this, but colds and viruses could spread to other employees, which will result in more employees either being out of work or not working to the best of their abilities. Overall, the lack of SSP can lower employee morale. 

With a sick pay scheme in place, this gives your employees time to recover, and could reduce the number of sick leave days your employees take overall. If your employees do not come into work, they can’t pass on any illness they have to other employees. 

What do employers have to do? 

If your business doesn’t already have a sick leave scheme in place, or if the sick leave scheme you have in place isn’t as favourable as the SSP scheme, then the SSP must come into effect from 1st January 2023. Employers must keep a full record of all employees who have availed of the scheme, their period of employment, the dates for with they received SSP and the rate of sick pay they received. The records must be kept for four years.  

What happens if an employee does not receive sick pay when they are entitled to? 

Where an employee believes that their employer has failed to comply with the provisions of the Act, an employee may make a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission. If successful, an employee who makes such a complaint may be awarded up to 4 weeks’ remuneration. However, the Act does provide exemptions that can be granted where the employer is experiencing severe financial difficulty. 

 Failure to comply with keeping records 

As mentioned, employers are required to keep records for at least four years of any employee who has received SSP. Failure to comply with the record-keeping requirement may result in a fine of up to €2,500. 

How does this affect your payroll software? 

The introduction of the SSP scheme will affect how you process payroll. Your payroll software should be updated from 1st January 2023 to cater for the scheme.  

Within payroll software BrightPay, if you currently offer paid sick leave to your employees, you can simply add sick pay as an addition type within the software. BrightPay’s SSP functionality is currently in development, and when ready, will include functionality that will allow users to calculate SSP amounts due to employees. 

To learn more about the Statutory Sick Pay scheme, register for our free webinar on the 14th of December, where our payroll experts will discuss what we know so far about SSP. If you’re interested in learning more about BrightPay, book a free 15-minute demo of our payroll software.