The Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme, HMRC’s online service for SME’s to reclaim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) paid to employees during the coronavirus, launched on Tuesday 26 May.
To be eligible for the scheme, employers must have had fewer than 250 employees and a PAYE payroll scheme that was created and started before 28 February 2020.
Employers will receive repayments at the relevant rate of SSP that they have paid to current or former employees for eligible periods of coronavirus related sickness starting on or after 13 March 2020.
The repayment will cover up to 2 weeks of SSP, starting from the first qualifying day of sickness, and is payable if an employee is unable to work because they:
- have coronavirus
- are self-isolating and unable to work from home
- are shielding because they’ve been advised that they’re at high risk of severe illness from coronavirus
The weekly rate of SSP that employers can claim is £94.25 before 6 April 2020 and £95.85 after 6 April 2020.
HMRC have a SSP calculator to work out the amount you can claim.
The scheme covers all types of employment contracts, including:
- full-time employees
- part-time employees
- employees on agency contracts
- employees on flexible or zero-hour contracts
- fixed term contracts (until the date their contract ends)
Employees do not have to give you a doctor’s fit note for you to make a claim.
You 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
What you’ll 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.
- your employer PAYE scheme reference number
- contact name and phone number of someone HMRC can contact if there are any queries
- UK bank or building society details
- 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
You can claim for multiple pay periods and employees at the same time. The start date of your claim is the start date of the earliest pay period you’re claiming for. The end date of your claim is the end date of the most recent pay period you’re claiming.
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 said they were off work – if they had symptoms, someone they lived with had symptoms or they were shielding
- the employee’s National Insurance number
For help navigating the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme, please contact Ellacotts on solutions@ellacotts.co.uk or 01295 250401.
