The Chancellor announced in December that he would re-introduce the SSP rebate scheme for eligible businesses, due to the increase in Coronavirus cases. The scheme will close on 17 March 2022 and employers have until 24 March 2022 to submit andy new claims for employee absence periods up to 17 March 2022, or to amend claims previously submitted. From 25 March 2022 normal SSP rules will apply.
As in the previous scheme the key criteria is as follows:
You can claim back up to 2 weeks of SSP for those employees who qualify and were off work on or after 21 December 2021;
You do not need to count any previous claim periods for an employee;
You must have already paid your employee’s sick pay; those clients who use the Armstrong Watson payroll service can see what SSP has been paid via the usual payroll reports, however there is also a useful calculator in the guidance above;
You are claiming for an employee who is eligible for sick due to Coronavirus;
You had a PAYE payroll scheme that was created on or before 30 November 2021;
You have fewer than 250 employees on 30 November 2021 across all your PAYE payroll schemes.
You will only be able to claim up to the maximum number of employees on your PAYE payroll schemes as at 30 November;
You do not require a fit note from a GP to make a claim but you can seek other evidence as found in the guidance .
The previous rules regarding State Aid continue to apply.
What you can claim:
The repayment will cover up to 2 weeks SSP starting from the first qualifying day of sickness, if an employee is unable to work because they:
have coronavirus symptoms
are self-isolating because someone they live with has symptoms
are self-isolating because they’ve been notified by the NHS or public health bodies that they’ve come into contact with someone with coronavirus
have been advised by letter to shield because they’re clinically extremely vulnerable and at very high risk of severe illness
have been notified by the NHS to self-isolate before surgery for up to 14 days
You can make more than one claim per employee, but you cannot claim for more than 2 weeks in total.
You can claim from the first qualifying day your employee is off work if the period of sickness started on or after 21 December 2021 if your employee:
has coronavirus
has coronavirus symptoms
was self-isolating because someone they live with has symptoms
If your employee’s absence started before 21 December 2021 you can only claim from the 21 December 2021.
It is important to note that a period of incapacity to work must be met which means an employee must be sick for four days or more, once this criteria is met SSP can be paid from day 1 for Coronavirus related illnesses, but the usual SSP rules apply for any other illness.
There are records you must keep, for at least three years after the date of any claim, for any future inspection which include:
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
You can make a claim via the HMRC Portalthe portal guidance also confirms the data you will you need:
the number of employees you are claiming for
start and end dates of your claim period
the total amount of sick pay you’re claiming back – this should not exceed 2 weeks of the set SSP rate
your Government Gateway user ID and password that you got when you registered for PAYE Online - if you do not have this find out how to get your lost user ID
your employer PAYE reference number
the contact name and phone number of someone we can contact if we have queries
your UK bank or building society account details (only provide account details where a Bacs payment can be accepted) including:
bank or building society account number (and roll number if it has one)
sort code
name on the account your address linked to your bank or building society account
To learn more about Armstrong Watson Payroll Services please get in touch.
