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2.) Calculate 12.07% of the total gross pay being paid each pay period, to calculate a gross holiday pay amount. This is referred to as ‘rolled up’ holiday pay and is paid each pay period. The employee would still need to take their holiday leave as and when they want to use it but wouldn’t get paid for it at that point, as they’ve already received payment for it each pay period as it accumulates. Please note that the 12.07% is only used if the holiday entitlement is 5.6 weeks and must be increased if there’s additional contractual leave provided. There are some useful links in relation to this here: https://ow.ly/IMUR50Xqsi9 and https://ow.ly/5cQx50Xqsja. Statutory sick pay (SSP) for different working patterns Q: An employee works one week on, one week off, and they’ve just gone off on sick leave. Should the individual only be paid SSP for their working weeks or should they be paid for their non-working weeks too? If payment should only be made for their working weeks, will SSP only be paid for 15 weeks in the 28-week period? Or could the SSP be extended to be paid for 28 weeks over 56 weeks, if the non-working weeks aren’t recorded as periods of sick leave on the system? A: Once a person has qualified for SSP, they would be due a weekly payment. Therefore, at least one day in the week must be a qualifying day (QD). It should be clear in the contract of employment which QDs are used. The QDs for SSP purposes are days that an employee would usually work or be available to work. If you have employees that can be expected to work on any day of the week, all seven days would constitute QDs for SSP purposes. Whether an employee works on all given days is irrelevant – what matters is whether they could be expected to work on those days. The QDs should be agreed between the employer and employee so that both parties are aware when those days are. If the QDs can’t be agreed, then: l the days they’re required to work as recorded in their contract can be used l a Wednesday can be used if no specific days are stipulated, or l every day of the week except any day on which none of the workforce is working can be used.
The employee would still only receive 28 weeks’ worth of SSP, and this wouldn’t be extended. Relevant guidance can be located here: https://ow.ly/ttqU50XqstV.
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How do SSP calculations work when staff have irregular working patterns?
Automatic enrolment during maternity leave periods Q: An employee on maternity leave has turned 22 during a period of SMP. We normally postpone colleagues’ automatic enrolment into the pension scheme for three months once they’re eligible to join, with the option to opt-in. As this employee is on SMP, can we follow the same process, and then backdate the employer pension payments to the day they turned 22, or do we have to automatically enrol them in the scheme and start paying the employer pension contributions based on their pre-maternity earnings? A: You can apply the three-month postponement period as normal when the employee first becomes eligible as they turn 22, with the option for them to opt-in should they wish to. You would then assess their eligibility at the end of the postponement period, based on the earnings being paid in that period, such as SMP or OMP, if applicable. If they meet the earnings criteria, they will need to be automatically enrolled at that point, with contributions due from the enrolment date, so no backdating is required. Once they’ve been automatically enrolled, the employer would then need to maintain the pension contributions in the normal way from their enrolment date, with employer contributions based on the employee’s full salary as if they weren’t on maternity leave, for the period of paid maternity leave, or longer if your scheme rules state so. Please see the following link for further assistance regarding postponement: https://ow.ly/HkSh50XqsCW. n
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 116 | December 2025 - January 2026
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