Sick Pay Increases Coming Soon
In accordance with the Sick Pay Act 2022, sick pay entitlements are set to increase to 5 days within a 12 month period, from the current 3 days, with effect from 1st January 2024.
Employers who do not operate a sick payment benefit scheme that is better than statutory sick pay, must ensure they apply the new increased entitlements and update their payroll arrangements to ensure that payment is made for five days and provide for increased payments in their annual budget.
Managers will need to be made aware of the increased entitlements, as they will need to seek medical certificates from employees where statutory sick pay is being sought.
Once an employee has exhausted their entitlement to employer-paid sick leave, they should move onto illness benefit, if eligible.
For employers whom, to date, did not apply the statutory sick pay scheme, as they operated a more favourable company sick pay scheme, they may need to review this again to make sure that on the whole, their scheme continues to be more favourable.
HR and Managers may need to update policies, contracts, sick pay policies, and any sickness absence forms to reflect these changes.
Further increases will continue to take effect in the coming years with 7 days planned for 2025 and eventually 10 days in 2026.
For advice or guidance on any matters relating to statutory sick pay, contact the MSS team at info@mssthehrpeople.ie
