The Statutory Sick Pay (General) (Coronavirus Amendment) Regulations 2020 16 March 2020 Emergency legislation has been passed via a statutory instrument to amend the Statutory Sick Pay (General) Regulations 1982, to confirm that a person who is self-isolating in line with government advice relating to coronavirus, is deemed as being incapable of work. This follows on from Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak’s announcement that Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) would be payable to not only those testing positive for COVID-19 or displaying its symptoms, but also to those individuals advised to self-isolate. Regulation 2(1) has been amended to include the following in the definition of those deemed incapable of work: “He is isolating himself from other people in such a manner as to prevent infection or contamination with coronavirus disease, in accordance with guidance published by Public Health England, NHS National Services Scotland or Public Health Wales and effective on 12th March 2020; and by reason of that isolation is unable to work.”
This has confirmed as a temporary measure, applicable for a period of eight months. The legislation is due to expire in eight months, on 12 November 2020.
CIPP comment
The statutory instrument does not suspend the three waiting days that currently need to be observed prior to the payment of SSP, so the CIPP hopes to see a further update that incorporates this in the very near future. Nor does the legislation refer to the recent announcement that businesses with less than 250 staff as at 28 February 2020, will be able to recover up to 14 days SSP from the government.
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Original SSP1 form restored 16 March 2020
The CIPP recently reported that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had published a new version of the SSP1 form, which included the requirement to issue SSP1 forms even for periods of absence lasting less than four days. The CIPP were surprised at this addition due to the sheer administrative burden that it would bring to payroll professionals. The DWP confirmed that it would redraft the SSP1 form and that it would be published in due course. Employers were advised that they could continue to use the previous form in the interim or could manually or digitally amend the new form accordingly.
The DWP has actually restored the original SSP1 form online, so payroll professionals should continue to use it in the same way as they have done previously.
CIPP comment
The CIPP looks forward to working with HMRC and other stakeholders to feed into improvements to the SSP1 form and similar forms in the future, and to guidance to help employees understand what can be a somewhat complex topic.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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