NHS Sick Pay Calculator 2026/27
NHS sick pay is occupational pay set by your years of service — up to six months at full pay — with Statutory Sick Pay inside it, not on top. This NHS sick pay calculator prices your whole absence phase by phase: full pay, half pay, SSP only, and where the money stops.
NHS sick pay entitlement — the Section 14 scale
Occupational sick pay for Agenda for Change staff is set by Section 14 of the NHS terms and conditions handbook, and it depends on one thing only: your length of reckonable NHS service when the absence begins. Band makes no difference — a Band 2 porter and a Band 9 manager with the same service get the same entitlement periods:
| Service when absence starts | Full pay | Then half pay | Total cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st year of service | 1 month | 2 months | 3 months |
| 2nd year of service | 2 months | 2 months | 4 months |
| 3rd year of service | 4 months | 4 months | 8 months |
| 4th and 5th years | 5 months | 5 months | 10 months |
| After 5 years | 6 months | 6 months | 12 months |
Two features catch people out. First, the entitlement is a rolling 12-month allowance, not an annual reset: payroll looks back over the 12 months before your current absence and deducts full-pay and half-pay days already taken. Second, “full pay” means what you would have received at work — basic salary plus regularly paid supplements, including high cost area supplements and regular unsocial-hours payments, normally based on your previous three months’ pattern. And throughout, sick pay is inclusive of SSP: the statutory payment is inside the occupational amount, and half pay plus SSP combined can never exceed full pay.
What it pays in practice — two worked examples
A staff nurse, Band 5 entry (£32,073), in her third year of service, off for 10 weeks. Third-year service gives 4 months of full pay — about 17.4 weeks — so the whole absence is covered at full pay: 10 weeks at £614.43 is £6,144.25, and nothing is lost. Most short and medium absences work out this way once you have a few years in, which is why NHS sick pay is genuinely one of the scheme’s best benefits.
A healthcare assistant, top of Band 3 (£27,476), in his first year of service, off for 20 weeks. First-year entitlement is 1 month full pay and 2 months half pay. The absence prices out as: full pay for the first month (£2,289.67), half pay for the next two months (£2,289.67), then SSP only for the remaining just-under-7 weeks (£856.59) — a total of £5,435.92 against £10,527.20 of normal pay. A loss of £5,091.28. Same employer, same scheme — the difference is entirely the service clock, and it is why long absences in a first NHS job are financially brutal in a way later ones are not.
SSP in 2026/27 — the rules changed in April 2026
Statutory Sick Pay sits underneath occupational pay, and it was reformed by the Employment Rights Act 2025 with effect from 6 April 2026. Three changes matter. SSP is now payable from the first day of absence — the old three unpaid waiting days are gone. The lower earnings limit has been abolished, so every employee qualifies regardless of earnings. And the weekly rate is the lower of £123.25 or 80% of your average weekly earnings — the 80% rule bites only if you average under about £154.06 a week, which for NHS staff means very small part-time contracts. SSP runs for a maximum of 28 weeks; for a five-day worker the flat rate is worth £24.65 a day. For most NHS staff SSP is invisible while occupational pay lasts — but it is the only income left once your Section 14 entitlement is exhausted and you are still inside 28 weeks, and after week 28 there is no sick pay at all: Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit are the next step.
Fit notes, injuries and the edges of the scheme
You can self-certify for the first seven calendar days of an absence; beyond that your employer needs a fit note from a GP or hospital doctor. Sick pay entitlement stops at the end of your employment if you leave or are dismissed during an absence. Absence caused by an injury or illness sustained in the course of your work is treated differently — Section 22 of the handbook provides an injury allowance that can top up income, and such cases are handled outside the ordinary calculation, so raise it with your manager and HR early. If a long absence approaches the end of your entitlement, ask payroll for your remaining full-pay and half-pay balance in writing: the rolling-window arithmetic is genuinely hard to track from payslips, and an early phased-return plan protects both your recovery and your income. Our back pay calculator covers the happier opposite case, and the main NHS pay calculator prices the job you are returning to.
NHS sick pay questions
How much sick pay do NHS staff get?
It depends entirely on service, under Section 14 of the Agenda for Change terms: 1 month at full pay plus 2 months at half pay in your first year of service, rising through 2+2 in year two, 4+4 in year three and 5+5 in years four and five, to 6 months full pay plus 6 months half pay after five years. Your band does not affect the periods. Statutory Sick Pay is included inside those amounts, not added to them.
Is SSP paid on top of NHS sick pay?
No. NHS occupational sick pay is inclusive of Statutory Sick Pay — your employer pays the occupational amount and the SSP element is part of it. Section 14 also caps the combination during the half-pay phase: half pay plus SSP together cannot exceed full pay. SSP only becomes visible as a separate amount when occupational entitlement runs out, and it continues until 28 weeks of absence at £123.25 a week (or 80% of average earnings if lower).
What happens when NHS sick pay runs out?
If your Section 14 entitlement ends but you are still within 28 weeks of absence, SSP continues at £123.25 a week. After 28 weeks all sick pay stops; the next step is new-style Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit, depending on your circumstances and contribution record. Staff with long service rarely hit this cliff — 12 months of occupational cover exceeds the 28-week SSP window entirely.
Does earlier sickness reduce my entitlement?
Yes. Entitlement is worked out over a rolling 12 months: when a new absence starts, payroll counts the full-pay and half-pay sickness you have taken in the previous 12 months and deducts it from your allowance. As older absences pass the 12-month mark, entitlement is restored. This is why two absences of the same length in the same year can be paid very differently — ask payroll for your remaining balance before a planned absence such as surgery.
What sick pay do part-time NHS staff get?
Exactly the same entitlement periods — the Section 14 scale is not reduced for part-time staff — with the amounts pro-rata to your contracted pay. A half-time Band 5 nurse with five years’ service still gets six months at her (part-time) full pay and six at half pay. Use the salary box in the calculator above with your actual part-time salary to price an absence.