Am I Entitled To Sick Pay After An Accident At Work?

By Lewis Cobain. Last Updated 05th March 2024. If you’re wondering ‘what is sick pay at work and will I get paid it?’, this guide can help. Whether through illness or injury, you may be entitled to SSP or statutory sick pay if you need to take time off after your injury.

Depending on your employer, role and contract type, you may also be entitled to get additional or top-up sick pay. A self-run sick pay scheme by your employer is known as Company Sick Pay (CSP). Such a scheme will pay more than statutory sick pay, but it’s not something employers are obligated to provide. However, your employer must at least pay Statutory Sick Pay, providing you meet eligibility requirements.

Please keep reading on if you have queries such as ‘am I entitled to sick pay at work and will I get paid?’ Depending on the severity of your accident and injury the amount of accident at work sick pay you could be entitled to can vary. You might also be able to claim benefits.

We’ll also discuss claiming work injury compensation which you may be entitled to in addition to any sick pay you may receive. To speak to an advisor about accident at work sick pay and potentially claiming compensation, you can contact Legal Expert today by:

• Calling us on 0800 073 8804
• Reaching us online through our contact form or our 24/7 live chat service

Select a section 

1. What Is Statutory Sick Pay?
2. Accident At Work – Sick Pay Eligibility
3. When Are You Not Entitled to Claim For Statutory Sick Pay?
4. What Should You Do If Your Employer Refuses To Pay Sick Pay?
5. What To Do When You Aren’t Entitled To Claim Sick Pay
6. Compensation Payouts On Top Of Sick Pay After An Accident at Work
7. No Win No Fee Accident At Work Claims

What Is Statutory Sick Pay?

Statutory sick pay is a specific amount of pay you are legally entitled to from your employer if you have to miss work due to illness or injury. Not all workers are entitled to claim statutory sick pay. To qualify for the payment you must be working for an employer (self-employed workers are not entitled to this). Criteria you must satisfy include;

• Are currently working for your employer, i.e. your employment contract has started.
• Are ill for four whole days or more. This is including non-working days such as weekends. The days need to be in a row.
• Earn more than an average of £120 each week.
• Not falling into one of the groups of people who are not eligible. (Read on to find out more.)
• You have followed your employer’s procedures for claiming sick pay.

You can still be entitled to accident at work sick pay if you are a casual worker or are employed by an agency. Part-time workers and those on fixed-term contracts are also entitled to claiming statutory sick pay.

Despite what many people may have read, you are still entitled to sick pay if you are employed on a ‘zero-hours-contract’. If your employer refuses you this, you need to ask them why they are not paying it.

For more information on sick pay rules, read on or get in touch with our team today for free legal advice.

Accident At Work – Sick Pay Eligibility

Depending on the terms of your contract, your employer, following an accident at work, could pay you sick pay, though they are not obliged to.

You may be eligible to claim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), which is currently set at £99.35 per week and can be paid to you for up to 28 weeks. However, following an accident at work, the sick pay you receive from your employer may differ depending on your contract. They cannot pay you lower than the SSP amount, but your contract might state that you are entitled to more for a specific period of time. It is important to check your contract to see if you are entitled to contractual sick pay before trying to claim SSP through your employer.

To qualify for SSP, you must meet the following criteria:

1. You must be classed as an employee and have done some work for your employer.
2. You must earn £123 per week on average.
3. You must have been ill for at least 4 days in a row, including non-working days.

If you are eligible for SSP, you will be paid for all the days you are off sick that you would have normally worked, except for the first 3 days.

Do not hesitate to contact our advisors today if you have any questions about making a claim for a work-related injury or about sick pay in the UK. Our friendly advisors are available 24 hours a day to help answer your questions and offer you free legal advice.

When Are You Not Entitled to Claim For Statutory Sick Pay?

You are not entitled to be paid statutory sick pay (SSP) in the following circumstances.

1. You’re currently self-employed.
2. You have used up your allowance, ie. you have already received sick pay for the twenty-eight-week limit.
3. If you have received ESA (employment and support allowance) within the last twelve weeks.
4. Are already being paid maternity allowance(s) or statutory maternity pay.
5. If you are pregnant and your baby’s due date is within the next four weeks, AND your sickness is related to your pregnancy.
6. If you have given birth in the last fourteen weeks. (this increases to eighteen weeks if the baby was over 4 weeks early at birth).
7. Are a member of the UK armed forces.
8. When in legal custody.
9. If you are an agricultural worker.

For some, even if your employer has listed you as self-employed, you may be technically a worker for that employer. If so, the answer to the question “am I entitled to sick pay at work and will I get paid it?” is yes. It is best to check if this applies to you and you can do so by contacting a solicitor. You’re welcome to contact Legal Expert for advice on this matter from our own solicitors.

What Should You Do If Your Employer Refuses To Pay Sick Pay?

If you have had an injury are legally entitled to accident at work pay, your employer has a duty to pay this. Common employer claims for not paying this (especially for small businesses) are that they can not afford to do so. If this is the case, there are steps you can take to recover the pay you were entitled to.

You should start by contacting HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs). Lines are open Monday – Friday 8am to 6pm and calls cost 12p per minute from a landline. Remember mobile calls will cost more and you could be on hold or in a queue for a while before getting through.

How To Make An Accident At Work Compensation Claim

If you have had an accident at work and suffered an injury for which your employer is liable, you could make a personal injury claim. As part of that claim, if successful, you could be awarded two types of damages; general and special damages. General damages compensates for the suffering caused by the injury while special damages compensate for any financial losses you have stuffed as a result of the harm caused. These financial losses can include any loss of earnings or future losses you may suffer.

bb However, in order to make a personal injury claim against your employer after an accident at work, your case must meet specific criteria:

• Your employer owed you a duty of care at the time of the incident.
• They breached this duty, which led to an accident,
• You were injured in this accident either mentally or physically.

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 outlines the duty of care your employer has to take reasonable steps to ensure your health and safety while you are at work.

The accident at work claim process will also require you to obtain evidence that can show your employer has acted negligently and that you have been injured. Our advisors would be happy to discuss examples of evidence with you completely free of charge or advise on whether you are entitled to work related injury sick pay in the UK. Furthermore, they could connect you with a No Win No Fee accident at work claim solicitor.

Compensation Payouts On Top Of Sick Pay After An Accident at Work

Receiving sick pay after an accident at work does not disqualify you from making a claim for compensation. While the amount you received in sick pay can factor into your claim – you can still seek general damages and special damages in compensation.

General damages is the amount you will request for the pain and suffering of your injury. To show you how different injuries can be valued in claim – we have created a table showing injuries alongside the related bracketed settlements.

The information is taken from the 2022 Judicial College Guidelines and relates solely to general damages.

Special damages can also be sought to compensate you for your financial needs. These are intended for the financial effects of an injury such as:

• Care costs
• Loss of income
• Mobility aids you bought to help you with your injury

This is where your sick pay could factor into your compensation. If you were unable to work following your accident at work, and the sick pay you had received was less than your expected or usual income – then you can seek compensation for the difference through special damages. You can make a claim for any financial effect you can prove as being caused by your injury.

Please reach out to one of our advisers for any more help you might need regarding accident at work claims or requesting sick pay.

No Win No Fee Accident At Work Claims

Although having a solicitor represent you isn’t necessary for a personal injury claim following an accident at work, it’s certainly the best way to make sure that you have someone with legal expertise to advise you on the process. But for many people, making the decision to have a solicitor work on their personal injury case is an expense that they cannot afford.

Luckily, our No Win No Fee Agreement means that there’s no financial risk to you when making a claim. With it, you won’t pay anything before your claim starts, or while it’s ongoing.

If your claim isn’t successful, then you won’t be asked to pay a penny. If you win your claim, then we’ll take a success fee from your compensation to cover the solicitor’s fees.

To get in touch with our accident at work claim solicitors, you can speak to our advisors at any time to find out more. Below are a few ways to contact us:

• Pop up to an online claims advisor at any time using our free live chat service
• Call us on our free 24/7 legal advice line on 0800 073 8804
• Request a call back from our advisors by completing an online claim form

Further Accident At Work Claims Guides

Here are some more of our guides that could help you if you decide to make an accident at work claim.

• Read this guide to learn if you could make a forklift truck claim after an accident in a warehouse.
• If you have been harmed by defective work equipment while working, see if you could make an accident at work claim.
• This guide looks at the eligibility to make burn injury at work claims.

Thank you for reading our guide ‘what is sick pay at work and will I get paid it?’.