We've had a number of conversations with clients

on the phone recently who haven't really understood

what Statutory Sick Pay is.

I'm just going to take a moment to explain it.

Statutory Sick Pay is money that is paid by the company

on behalf of the government.

So, depending on the size of your payroll, very often

you can claim back your Statutory Sick Pay, not always.

I do hesitate, not always.

And, the rules are changing, so always check

with HMRC, but it is an amount of money that an employee

is entitled to if they are absent from work

and where either there is no company sick pay

or where company sick pay has run out.

Now, the key to Statutory Sick Pay is that you have

to have it in your Contract of Employment and what it means

is that you don't pay anything to the employee

for the first three days of their absence

before their Statutory Sick Pay kicks in.

Now, that first three days a lot of business owners

don't realise that they don't have to pay their employee.

Now that's quite a useful way of getting people

back to work on a regular basis, who actually

aren't really sick, they just fancy a day off work.

If you continue to pay them for that day off work

on a Friday, or that day off work on a Monday,

then they are going to continue to take

odd days off here and there.

If you've got Statutory Sick Pay in your

Contracts of Employment, then actually make sure

that you enforce it.

Stop pay as soon as somebody is off for day one

because they'll only not have their pay once

before they realise that they're being penalised

for taking a sick day.

If they're genuinely sick and they're off

for a week or two weeks, then their Statutory Sick Pay

will come in, but you can't discriminate.

You can't expose your business

to the risk of discrimination.

So, if your policy is Statutory Sick Pay, even if

it's Statutory Sick Pay within the first year

or within the first two years and then

and then a company sick pay kicks in,

if your policy is Statutory Sick Pay

do not pay people for the single days

that they were off here, there and everywhere

throughout the year.

Duvet days are not sick days.