Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that employers accessing the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme are able to recoup money that they have paid out in sick pay from the first day of an employee’s sickness absence.

The Chancellor announced at Budget on 11 March 2020 that employees would be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from day 1 in respect of COVID-19 related absences. The Chancellor also confirmed that the Government would refund the costs of up to two-weeks’ SSP for COVID-19 related absences to employers.

These changes had effect from 13 March 2020 and the new system for the SSP rebate launched on 26 May 2020. The Government has ensured that all the guidance available on GOV.UK is correct. The SSP calculator included a caveat to employers while it was being updated to reflect the latest position on SSP entitlement.

The Government is not aware of any employers having been adversely affected as a result of the updates to the guidance or the calculator and the new rebate service has a customer satisfaction score of above 90%.