PART 4: STATUTORY PAYMENTS
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employee’s linked PIW has run for three years
• employee’s disqualifying period related to pregnancy begins • employee is taken into legal custody • employee goes outside the EEA and there is no liability for Class 1 NICs • employee dies. COPYRIGHT © 2021 THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PAYROLL PROFESSIONALS N.B. each time an employee begins a new PIW that does not link with an earlier PIW the maximum liability for SSP is 28 times the weekly rate. The linking period for a PIW is 56 days (see ‘Linking’ above). In March 2017 the Government announced it wanted to consult on flexible SSP arrangements, to be managed by employers, as part of flexible fitness to work proposals. Consultation is on-going but the intention is still to implement a more flexible application of SSP at some point in the near future. Leaver’s statements A form SSP1(L), leaver’s statement, was issued at the request of the employee and, where SSP was payable for at least one week in the eight weeks before the termination of employment. It was withdrawn from 27th October 2008. Opting-out of SSP Employers can choose to opt-out of SSP as long as their contractual pay is equal to, or more than, SSP. This can be done without applying to HMRC and the opt-out can apply to some or all employees, but sufficient records must still be available to issue an SSP1 if required and to prove SSP compliance to HMRC. Guidance HMRC’s E14 Employer helpbook for Statutory Sick Pay was abolished on 6th April 2013. Guidance can now be found at https://www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay. Records It is a statutory requirement that a record is maintained of dates of sickness lasting at least four calendar days in a row (PIWs) reported by employees, and of all payments of SSP made during a PIW. No printing, copying or reproduction permitted. Recovery of SSP SSP may be only recovered under the Percentage Threshold Scheme (PTS) until 5th April 2014 when the scheme was abolished. In order to recover SSP an employer must: • establish the total (employee’s and employer’s) gross Class 1 NICs liability for the tax month and deduct any contracted-out NI rebate, ‘across all PAYE records’ • multiply by 13%, rounding down fractions of a penny • establish the total SSP payments in that month. Where the amount at (c) is more than the amount at (b) the difference may be recovered from
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