Statutory pay rates 2026/27
Statutory pay is the legal minimum an employer pays during sickness, time off for a new child, or redundancy. Some employers pay more under the contract of employment. The table gives the statutory figures for the 2026/27 tax year.
Source: www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay, checked 22 September 2026; www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay/what-youll-get, checked 22 September 2026; www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-thresholds-for-employers-2026-to-2027, checked 22 September 2026; www.gov.uk/redundancy-your-rights/redundancy-pay, checked 22 September 2026; www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/eligibility, checked 22 September 2026
Statutory Sick Pay
The rules for Statutory Sick Pay changed at the start of the 2026/27 tax year. It is now paid from the first day of sickness, with no waiting days, and there is no minimum level of earnings to qualify. The weekly amount is £123.25 or eighty per cent of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. The Statutory Sick Pay calculator works out the amount for a given number of days.
Maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental pay
Statutory Maternity Pay starts at 90% of average weekly earnings for the first six weeks. For the next thirty-three weeks it is £194.32 a week or ninety per cent of earnings, whichever is lower. To qualify, an employee needs average earnings of at least £129 a week and twenty-six weeks with the same employer by the qualifying week. The Statutory Maternity Pay calculator applies both stages.
Statutory Adoption Pay follows the same pattern. Statutory Paternity Pay and Statutory Shared Parental Pay are paid at £194.32 a week or ninety per cent of earnings if that is lower, with no higher first stage.
Statutory redundancy pay
An employee with at least two full years of service can receive statutory redundancy pay. It gives half a week's pay for each full year of service under age twenty-two, one week's pay for each full year from twenty-two to forty, and one and a half weeks' pay for each full year from forty-one. Weekly pay counts up to £751, and only the last twenty years of service count, which sets the most anyone can receive at £22,530. The redundancy pay calculator applies these limits.
Tax on statutory pay
Sick pay and parental pay go through payroll like wages, so income tax and National Insurance still apply. The take-home pay calculator shows those deductions for a yearly figure. Redundancy payments have separate tax rules.
Questions
Do employers have to pay more than the statutory rate?
Only if the employment contract says so. Many contracts include company sick pay or enhanced maternity pay, and the contract or staff handbook sets out the terms.
Is Statutory Sick Pay paid from the first day of sickness?
Yes, since the start of the 2026/27 tax year. Before the reform, the first three days of sickness were unpaid, and employees who earned less than the lower earnings limit did not qualify.
Does the redundancy cap change each year?
The weekly pay cap is normally reviewed each April, and the maximum payment moves with it. The figures here apply to dismissals from the start of the 2026/27 tax year.
This is information, not financial advice.