SSP from day one: Practical steps UK employers need to consider now to reduce absence and costs

Absence management is under the spotlight with SSP changes coming in April 2026. The Employment Rights Act (ERA) will make Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) available from day one and remove the lower earnings limit, meaning every employee will qualify. This is happening at a time when CIPD data shows absence rates are higher than ever, so many organisations are already under growing pressure that these reforms will ramp up further.

With short-term absence expected to spike, managers, operations and budgets are all likely to feel the strain. This calls for a proactive absence management approach that strengthens how organisations support employees, protect their culture and empowers those closest to the day‑to‑day employee experience to take confident, timely action – managers.

Help managers feel confident handling absence

Under the new ERA rules, managers must be ready to apply updated absence policies with clarity, supporting genuine sickness while also spotting patterns that may indicate wider issues inside the organisation.

But the biggest challenges many managers face aren’t necessarily legal in nature, they’re operational. Even though policies often exist, things can go wrong if managers don’t have the context, confidence or data they need to step in early to have meaningful conversations or to notice subtle changes in behaviour.

As SSP will become payable from day one, these capability gaps carry a higher cost and organisations will feel the financial impact immediately from April. So, now is a good time to focus on building manager capability through clear training and equip managers with systems that support them in making confident, consistent decisions part of everyday operations.

Technology and people-first guidance

Changes to SSP will impact how managers handle employee relations. This is where systemic, people‑first operating model, described as Employee Relations as a Service (ERaaS), becomes essential, especially as HR teams balance absence demands with reduced internal capacity.

ERaaS brings together award‑winning ER case management technology, expert HR guidance and flexible advisory support. This gives managers and HR teams a more structured, consistent and resilient way to manage absence cases effectively, without piling extra pressure onto internal teams.

Technology and automation plays a critical role by prompting managers to take the appropriate action at the right time, such as:

• Welcome‑back conversations
• Early wellbeing check-ins
• Escalating of complex cases for expert support
• Discussing reasonable adjustments.

These prompts help reduce short‑term cases from developing into long‑term absence and create space for honest, supportive conversations that help employees feel ready to return to work.

Alongside this, leaders also need to understand the support available so they can signpost employees to wellbeing resources, such as EAP support or health benefits, to reduce prolonged sickness and to reinforce a culture of care.

Use HR data to reduce long-term absence

This proactive approach works the most effectively when organisations understand the underlying drivers of absence. That could be workload pressures, cultural issues or emerging wellbeing concerns. ERaaS gives HR teams this visibility through timely dashboards and robust analytics tools, helping them:

• Track absence trends across departments and locations
• Detect cultural issues linked to rising sickness
• Build evidence-based wellbeing strategies
• Target manager training to close capability gaps.

During peaks of absence or internal resource pressure, additional HR advisory support also helps managers maintain consistency and compassion in every case.

This deeper level of insight improves internal communication, making it easier for colleagues to find support early, reducing escalation, boosting motivation and minimising casual absence.

Reduce absence rates by up to 10%

When organisations empower managers and strengthen their HR analytics capabilities, the impact on absence rates can be significant.

Starbucks UK achieved a 10% reduction in absence within 12 months, returning 15,000 hours to frontline services. By empowering managers to self‑serve routine people matters, backed by an HR Advice Line, the internal HR team gained valuable capacity to focus on strategic priorities, and empower® insights helped identify patterns and direct support where it could make the biggest difference.

Empowering our managers with guided journeys has been a huge win for us. It’s really boosted managers leadership, helped us cut absence rates by an incredible 10% in just one year, and freed up our HRBPs and district managers to focus on strategic priorities. What’s been especially impressive is the seamless integration and cultural alignment of the external advisers. – Senior HR Business Partner, Starbucks UK

This creates a scalable HR operating model that lowers avoidable absence and cost while improving the employee experience overall.

Practical steps: Preparing for SSP reform

To fully benefit from a more proactive, data‑driven absence management strategy, and to ensure managers are ready for the new SSP rules, organisations should lay the groundwork now. Key actions include:

1. Reviewing absence and SSP policies
2. Updating employment contracts to reflect entitlement changes
3. Educating managers to manage absence cases confidently
4. Checking systems for zero‑hours, flexible working, SSP and leave accuracy.

During busy periods, external support can support policy reviews and run a gap analysis to help organisations stay consistent and well-prepared.

The Employment Rights Act is here

Investing in proactive absence management now is a strategic opportunity to boost productivity, engagement and culture, and putting the right foundations in place early will pay off later.

Explore award-winning solutions that provide the consistency, HR insight and people support needed to thrive under under the new ERA.

Watch this short video to find discover the benefits of empower® and how it helps organisations reduce absence rates.